Marble Sneaky Snake 2, 2017
Photo: Roman März
Photo: Roman März
Photo: Roman März
Collection
Arabescato marble, plinth (MDF, car lacquer)
67 x 29 x 13 cm (sculpture)
62 x 40 x 35 cm (plinth)
Claudia Comte works variously with wood, marble, and bronze, thereby retaining a close material connection to traditional sculptural practices whilst developing a critical position which re-examines the present use of those materials in contemporary art, specifically in relation to environmental histories, and the history of materials in industrial and craft production. By developing a language which incorporates forms derived from cartoon animations, such as snakes, rabbits, and cacti, as well as objects of human waste disposal such as aluminum cans and plastic bottles she simultaneously furthers a sculptural legacy based on abstracted or essential forms inherited from Modernism, whilst critically commenting on the life and value of different materials by highlighting contrasts between artisanal and mechanized methods of production, and ideas of worth and disposability.
Marble Sneaky Snake 2 is one of multiple works with variations of that title which, in alignment with the character type which gives them their name, embody the playful energy Comte seeks to inject into the specific art historical legacies she engages with. The personification of Comte’s sculptural works paired with their nominal attribution as variations on a single form develops her interest in ideas of seriality inherited from Minimalism into a kind of familial relation between different sets of works. These elements of her practice are all part of a broader system of guidelines devised by Comte as a framework for production. The similarity between the literal dimensions of different works is noticeable in both their display and description and demonstrates a considered level of attention to how works exist in close association with each other, levelled across both vertical and horizontal planes. –Elsa Gray
67 x 29 x 13 cm (sculpture)
62 x 40 x 35 cm (plinth)
Claudia Comte works variously with wood, marble, and bronze, thereby retaining a close material connection to traditional sculptural practices whilst developing a critical position which re-examines the present use of those materials in contemporary art, specifically in relation to environmental histories, and the history of materials in industrial and craft production. By developing a language which incorporates forms derived from cartoon animations, such as snakes, rabbits, and cacti, as well as objects of human waste disposal such as aluminum cans and plastic bottles she simultaneously furthers a sculptural legacy based on abstracted or essential forms inherited from Modernism, whilst critically commenting on the life and value of different materials by highlighting contrasts between artisanal and mechanized methods of production, and ideas of worth and disposability.
Marble Sneaky Snake 2 is one of multiple works with variations of that title which, in alignment with the character type which gives them their name, embody the playful energy Comte seeks to inject into the specific art historical legacies she engages with. The personification of Comte’s sculptural works paired with their nominal attribution as variations on a single form develops her interest in ideas of seriality inherited from Minimalism into a kind of familial relation between different sets of works. These elements of her practice are all part of a broader system of guidelines devised by Comte as a framework for production. The similarity between the literal dimensions of different works is noticeable in both their display and description and demonstrates a considered level of attention to how works exist in close association with each other, levelled across both vertical and horizontal planes. –Elsa Gray
Claudia Comte, was born 1983 in Switzerland. Her work is defined by her interest on the memory of materials and by a careful observation of how the hand relates to different technologies.