With Colormirror, the first solo show in Italy by Regine Schumann, the Dep Art gallery in Milan continues with its research and promotion of mid-career artists with important international experience.
With a considerable body of work, of mid and large dimensions (the formats vary from 80 to 240 cm in height), the exhibition presents from 30 October to 26 January the latest works by an artist who is considered, in virtue of her experiments with acrylic materials, one of the most important innovators in the field of colour and cinevisual research.
The work of Regine Schumann explores the relationship between colour, light, and architecture through light panels—a sort of monolith with vibrant colours—that offer viewers an evocative sensorial experience.
Schumann's sculptures are created to interact with light: the fluorescent colours of the works change with sunlight and depending on the viewing point. The artist describes her work thusly: 'The coloured and fluorescent acrylic glass plays, in my work, an important role. The material I use lights up as soon as it receives light energy, either natural or artificial. Depending on the position, the different panels create different layers, combinations, and selection of light and colour'.
Her colour compositions are inspired by Goethe's colour theory, based on the fact that colours come alive from the interaction of light and darkness; aware of this bond, in some cases the artist uses black light to add vigour and energy to the colours that, unexpectedly, shimmer and become bold.
Architecture is the third fundamental element that rounds of this artist's work. In fact, her site-specific installations modify the existing space, giving it a vibrating dimension and—as she herself calls it—an environmental 'temperature'. In this regard, Alberto Zanchetta, the exhibition curator, writes: 'The works of Regine Schumann mark off a physical space that alters and redefines the environment in which they are contained. The acrylic glass surfaces resort to colours that penetrate and reflect one another, or reverberate, making the work immaterial, as if it were an emanation of pure colour. Engaged in a two-fold visual experience (day/natural and night/artificial), the viewer is invited to question the vast possibilities of the colour spectrum with respect to the physiological limits imposed by the human eye. The disorienting effect of the fluorescence is achieved thanks to the synthesis of the front, rear, and perimeter surfaces that absorb or reflect light, subjecting sight to imperceptible changes, which are at times gradual or even sudden. But in any case, surprising'.
The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual volume (Italian-English) published by Dep Art and edited by Alberto Zanchetta and Antonio Addamiano, containing the curator's text, the reproduction of all works on display, installation views in the gallery, and an updated bio-bibliography.
Press release courtesy Dep Art Gallery.
