Darlingtonia

1999 | series of objects (airbrush and artificial fur).





«The thing looks like a giant button, glinting wet, soft and limp. It could be a sexual organ, a kind of Japanese candy, an organic gemstone, or a thing to be swallowed, embedded in crumpled furry textile. 
As a participant in Sonja Feldmeier's fictions, I am brought into a world that consists of elements of the macro world blown up into large-scale, combined with everyday objects and materials. The latter, with their softness and comfort, provide a general sense of well-being in the environment. In contrast, the pictorial objects are ambivalent, a mixture of enticement and danger.» (Daniel Meier)

« Darlingtoniaalso plays with short and long-sightedness. Seen from a distance, the sculptured elements covered with artificial fur seem to be some monstrous living thing growing in the room. On closer inspection, the motifs of the airbrush-treated polyester objects, buried deep inside the fabric bodies, exude a fascination of their own. Despite their hyper-realistic presentation, the actual inspiration and subject of this piece—magnified photographs of bitten fruit—is barely recognizable. The changed size of things, the lack of context and the density of visual detail create a structure which is entirely open to reinterpretation. Viewers resemble animals trapped in the vortex of the eponymous carnivorous plant as they are slung into the jungle of free association named Darlingtonia.» (Nina Güllicher)

Exhibitions

2001 Swiss Art Awards, Basel
1999 Jahresausstellung, Kunsthaus Aarau
1999 Darlingtonia, poste d’art contemporain, Fribourg
1999 Melted, Horten, Düsseldorf