2021-02-22
MRE goes Mad(C)
With abstract works from 1945 onwards, the Reinhard Ernst Museum will not only display a corridor of significant art history from the last 75 years but also works of the present day. Last year we reported on this website on a commissioned work by the sculptor Tony Cragg for the Reinhard Ernst Museum. However, this sculpture is not the only work of art that was specifically produced for the museum. The entire building – especially the areas open to the public – has further visual surprises for its visitors.
The paintings of the graffiti artist MadC prompt interest in other works that have been designed for the museum and reflect an important current art form. These works will be integrated directly into the museum building and will complement the art collection with their focus on the major themes of colour, format and abstraction.
Claudia Walde aka MadC was born in Bautzen/Saxony in 1980. She lives and works in Halle/Saale and leaves her mark with her unique art worldwide. She has been part of the international graffiti and street art scene for 22 years and developed from a young girl with a spray can to one of the world’s best-known façade artists. She confirmed her extraordinary artistic talent with degrees in communication design at the Burg Giebichenstein Art Academy in Halle and the Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London. Claudia Walde has released three publications on street art to date.
In artistic terms, MadC has been influenced by her graffiti past. Her work stands out with its bold, brilliant combinations of colour, its interplay with transparent layers of paint and spontaneous calligraphic elements. This is how she achieves her unique visual effect. MadC develops her paintings on canvas with acrylic and spray paint; her works have been presented at numerous international solo and group exhibitions.
Despite these rather classic media and the exhibition of her works in museums and galleries, her specific direct connection to street art remains – with countless, colourful wall paintings or murals, MadC transports her works of art into completely new dimensions. From the prestigious Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia, USA, the Free at Last Mural at the Sinkka Museum in Finland, the Berlin Mural Fest in Germany’s capital to the Abu Dhabi Mural in the United Arab Emirates, MadC has responded to many invitations to display her art in its outsize format.
The artist has created five works for the Reinhard Ernst Museum, which will be transferred to glass in large-scale format and integrated in the museum building (in a still secret place.) The sponsor Reinhard Ernst has long had the idea of emphasising certain visual axes with coloured glass works. The effect of colour, transparency and light should further support the unique atmosphere in the museum – with its open, generous use of space. Not least, the architect Fumihiko Maki is thrilled with the designs and sees them as the perfect addition to his plans for the building.
The graffiti artist’s style comes into its own in a particular way when transferred to glass, as the colours, their overlays and brilliance are highlighted in this way. The project is currently about to be completed, and a visit together with the artist to the glass studio responsible has already taken place.
To produce the glass work, the Reinhard Ernst Museum was able to recruit the Derix glass studio, which is now in its fifth generation of ownership. In Taunusstein – at the gates of Wiesbaden – art on glass has been created for many years in cooperation with artists as well as professionals in the fields of glass painting and glass finishing, which you can also find at a central location in Wiesbaden. Since 2009, a work by Mario Haunhorst has bathed the underpass in front of Wiesbaden’s main railway station below the Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring in a bluish light. The glazing of these walls was produced by Derix.
In its more than 150-year history, the company has made it its task in close cooperation with the artists to transfer works to glass so that they fit perfectly in the architectural environment later on. This traditional company has demonstrated these skills in numerous historical buildings – since 1908, Derix has been given the title of Papal Court Glass Painter and among other works it has created glazing for the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
Wilhelm Derix regarded his glass workshop and its skilled staff as an orchestra, which performs the artists’ compositions. The festschrift for the 150th anniversary quotes the company’s founder: “[We wish] to create an ideal body of sound for the composer […], whereby individual phrasing by the conductor or the instrumentalists is also desired.”
The Derix glass workshop was founded in Goch on the Lower Rhine in 1866 – and has been in family ownership ever since. The company has been based in Taunusstein since 1974 and now employs around 60 people. The proprietor and managing director is Rainer Schmitt.
One of the glass workshop’s principles is to be receptive to new things and to treat glass as a medium with all the means of craftsmanship available. This conviction and their expertise as craftsmen is shown inter alia in its projects with well-known personalities from recent art history. These include Georg Meistermann, HAP Grieshaber, Emil Kiess, Tobias Rehberger, Max Uhlig, Imi Knoebel, Gerhard Richter, Markus Lüpertz and the Wiesbaden glass artist Karl-Martin Hartmann. Incidentally, almost all these names feature in the Reinhard Ernst Collection.
The collaboration of MadC and Derix is an enrichment for the museum and accomplishes its visions in many areas. Look forward to the result – and some other architectural surprises …
Related links:
MadC website
Derix Glasstudios website