Anselm Kiefer's works profoundly explore history, mythology, the conflicts and contradictions of civilization, forgotten knowledge, and our collective memories. They are multi-layered objects that, for their surface structure and general nature, seem like artifacts from the depths of human history. Moreover, Kiefer dedicates his artistic endeavors to the realm between the visible and the invisible. Mystical beings that wander back and forth between heaven and earth like messengers, creating a connection, serve as an interface with the figure of the artist. In Kiefer's view, the artist can also assume the task of bringing things that society has forgotten, repressed, or marginalized to the surface by visualizing them.
The white robes, applied in a collage technique, float above the broad water surface, with monumental cliffs towering in the background. Behind them, we see a horizontal flight of stone steps. Their delicate, fragile surface, with its silvery, leaden monochrome quality, has a certain air of otherworldliness. Around 2002, Jewish mysticism, which describes the ascent to the seven heavens and thus the liberation from the constraints of all worldly things, offered the ideal projection surface for Kiefer, who was in search of meaning, to artistically explore the existential question of the origin and limits of our earthly existence. As in parallel narratives in Christianity or ancient mythology, this ascent is preceded by a descent into the underworld, a confrontation with what is threatening and unsettling us.
With its sculptural appeal, the present work is indicative of his intensive, programmatic artistic examination of the bridges between heaven and earth, this world and the afterlife, as well as reason and magic. Kiefer's works are compelling not only because of their art-historical significance but also because of their incomparable materiality and symbolic depth, engaging viewers in an intense dialogue that appeals to individual and collective consciousness and exerts a magical attraction. [KT]