Almost collapsing

Gerhard Marx skillfully manipulates materials to engage his physical urban context.
Posted 5 Feb 11 By Design Indaba Creative Work / Design News Comments

Working in the space between form and formlessness, Gerhard Marx’s Cumulus exhibition at the Goodman Gallery in Cape Town presents works that have resulted from his self-designed processes.

Running until 12 February 2011, Cumulus takes its cue from Cumulus clouds that are always on the verge of collapsing. Marx uses dried plants, rich in associative and connotative density, and seamlessly embeds them into paper, working to become a twisted composition of skeletons.

In other manifestations garden refuse is grafted into a ribcage and cast in monumental bronze while a South African atlas is formed into elaborate structures of discarded weeds and plants.

It’s the shifting nature of Cumulus clouds that is symbolic for Marx. Like the clouds, his work is about a build-up, coupled with a constant threat of collapse and, ultimately, transformation.