MADELEINE DIETZ

Wandtresor

SEPTEMBER 23 - NOVEMBER 6, 2021

OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th, 11AM-5PM

C. Grimaldis is pleased to present Wandtresor, a solo exhibition of work by German sculptor Madeleine Dietz. In a survey display of floor and wall structures, the permeable nature of organic materials is unpacked via the tension within materials, presenting a stark contrast in coming together.

Wandtresor disrupts the dichotomous tension between organic and man-made materials through harmonious sculptures that present relationships between technology and nature, order and chaos, hard and soft, male and female. The play on texture found in Dietz’s work opens a conversation about formalism and the environment, pointing to earth as a live-giving force and a source of man’s creation. There is balance that exists within the natural and the industrial. The artist’s compositions are constructed of geometric shapes that act as vessels for cracked earth and negative space, alluding to notions of death and decay. The title of the exhibition and many of its works translates from German to mean “Wall Safe,” a nod to the ability to contain and preserve.

Madeleine Dietz was born in Mannheim, Germany and studied at the local art school from 1970 to 1974. She lives and works in Rheinland Pfalz in Germany. Dietz has exhibited widely throughout Europe and the United states including Galerie Georg Nothelfer (Berlin), Galerie Sonja Roesch (Houston, TX), Museum der Minoriten (Graz), Galerie Linde Holinger (Ladensburg), and Ernst Barlach Museum (Ratzeburg), among others. Her work is in many museums and private collections, including the Kunsthalle Mannheim, Wilhelm - Hack Museum (Ludwigshafen), Museum of Contemporary Art (Neubrandenburg), and the New Museum (Weserburg). Dietz recently participated in an installation at Osthofen Memorial, Osthofen Concentration Camp, Germany.