wanderlust

A Slice Of Art

Always hungry for new art and with the Berlin Art Week and Preview Berlin Art Fair in particular just around the corner we decided to sit down, have a slice of cake and a rather tasty conversation with the artist Anke Eilergerhard who will be exhibiting at Preview Berlin at Tempelhof Airport in September. The leading Pâtissier of Preview swapped icing for paint and whipped cream for silicone to create delicious, slightly ironic, extremely colorful and wonderfully elaborate, in both form and shape, artworks. Inspired by the kitchen and the home space, Eilergerhard works might come accross as cliche and kitschy, but they are definitely more than cute as pie. In addition to this year’s Preview Berlin Art Fair, Anke Eilergerhard’s work can be found in Davis Klemm Gallery in Frankfurt-Westend.

BAPS: What are the themes you explore in your work?
AE: Beauty, decay, gluttony, pleasure, excess, exploitation, deception, maddess, life and happiness.

BAPS: Why do you work in the particular medium you use? It looks very similar to cake decorator’s icing. What is it exactly?
AE: Highly pigmented silicone. For me however, it is just a means to an end. I happily work with other materials depending on what ideas I pursue. Silicione certainly fits well with the context of my work. It is the idea that the beauty industry and the handwork industry both use silicone to cover up flaws.

BAPS: What is your work process like? Do you do a lot of planning or do you work spontaneously?
AE: “Spontaneously” sounds great, but ofen it is not how I work. Sculpture doesnt really work without planning. At least it wouldnt work in my case. The statics and the structures put together from different elements have to be carefuly thought through. Also with the materials I use there is no room for trial and error. Consequently the planning of an entire exhibition can take months.

BAPS: Yes and icing, or silicone, can dry fast! How did you first start making your art?
AE: I started with big format paintings of cakes. This subject matter has taken a very important place in my work for over 20 years. It started in 1990s with extremely colorful, oversized cakes and cake slices painted over ready made floral patterns. Nowadays I focus more and more on the detail of whipped cream topping, which for me is not only
a perfect shape but also a slice of heaven on earth.

BAPS: Do you have any long term art goals, or dreams you would like to fulfill?
AE: Documenta, Guggenheim, Neue Nationalgalerie?

BAPS: Is there anything else you d like to tell us about yourself and your artwork?
AE: I call my series of works “Kitchenplastics” because in the broadest sense I always draw inspiration from the kitchen and the home spaces, though not specifically my kitchen or my home. For me the kitchen, even if slightly ironica, stands for a symbol of the female identity (washing up, baking, cleaning) in today’s society. It is also a space of particular shapes, materials and colour schemes that I find stimulating and fascinating. “Plastics” refers to the character of my artworks as well as to my preference of certain materials, like silicone.

BAPS: What are you expectations for Preview Art Fair Berlin?
AE: To be seen.

Thanks for the interview, Anke! We look forward to getting a closer look at your deliciously and perfectly constructed artworks!

 Tempelhof Airport Preview Berlin Art Fair. September 14th – 16th 2012: 1-8pm.

Article written and interview translated by: Anna Frankowska

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