Pier Stockholm – Head-On

08.11 – 30.11 / 2013
Lisa Bird, Vienna

Head-On is an introspection to the aesthetics of design, and the conceptualization of functionality. Stockholm questions the paradigms and signifiers that define an object and its functionality within a demarcated system. Whether it is a collectively accepted measurement for delimiting the function of an object, as is the case with A4 format sheets, or the practical potential of an object based on an external visual trigger that provokes the viewers imaginary, as in the Caran D’ache colors pencils accompanied by landscapes inside their metallic cases.

Pier Stockholm manifests a desire to comprehend the daily relationships that he experiences within a space, a system of symbolic forms among an organized milieu of tools and materials inside a specific space. Stockholm selects instruments and images in a quest to understand systems; he indicates the semantic elements that define an object as an object. Then, he observes the structure of that object, and synthesizes the variables that describe it: visually and functionally. Stockholm appropriates the primary signifiers, and then dissects the elements that denote their functionality. Stockholm ultimately intervenes recognizable visuals and invents sculptures that maintain the inherent aesthetic of functionality from the tools he firstly selected, yet within his new objects, an absurdist functionality emerges because of their impossible usability, and a sense of playfulness arises in the viewer, who enacts an imaginary function through perception rather than action.

Stockholm creates rigorous, graphic-like visual compositions with iterative patterns to graphically mark time, rhythm, and movement. Reminiscent of Oskar Schlemmer’s intent to aesthetically merge design and art, Stockholm conceives his studio space as the main stage, where he schemes geometric choreographies. InPhysical chart of the draftman’s table, an arrangement of playful-like sculptures recalls Stockholm’s studio stage with sculptures that appear as cranes built-up with tools from his studio that were previously used to construct his emblematically surreal architectural drawings.

For Head-On, Stockholm presentsGod/the Devil : is in the detail, where he revisits idealistic buildings of modernism, suggesting that the aesthetical importance of the work is the finished object, yet these structures were not built; thus, the ultimate effort was the one that remained in the 2-D plane as an idea for an edifice. Complementary to the meticulously detailed architecture-like drawings, two nearly achromatic works seem to blend into the wall as a light-blue horizon.Time and Tide Flows Wide East and West. Viewed at a distance, their surface shows traces of lines at irregular intervals. However, when viewed at close range, the farthest left and bottom axes appear to be perfectly straight with red traces, revealing a predefined environment. Stockholm has established a determined system, a regulated plane structured by horizontal and vertical lines that depict movement of his hand with different pressures. Stockholm recalls the aesthetical tradition of minimalism, as well as the precepts of graphic design.

Head-On, alludes to Pier Stockholm’s stimulating relationship with objects inside a determined space.

Head-Onis open; the viewer can perform and discover a journey into Stockholm’s studio. InHead-On, one can delve the subtle and accurate gestures in Pier Stockholm practice. Through meticulous process he remains consistent in his geometrical aesthetic, which is the core to a systematic and meditative studio-practice that coherently describes his oeuvres.

Yoab Vera
November, 2013

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