Hjemmeside
Every society accumulates contradictions amidst their ideals. Dietrich Wegner uses those contradictions, putting opposites together in large-scale sculpture that feed on the friction between two things that should not make sense together. When an image stands in limbo, between associations, it occupies a flexible place in our mind. In this state we label less and questions more. Wegner creates images that are safe and unsettling, abject and beautiful. His work shows us how a mushroom cloud can resemble a tree house, an anus a vortex, a suicide bomber a vulnerable human being, all in an effort to explore our varied states of contentment and security.
Often Wegner chooses materials that contradict an aspect of an image while striving towards a realistic depiction of the image. A mushroom cloud is fluffy like synthetic cotton, yet a Poly-fil mushroom cloud becomes fun and cozy. A blood splat (such as in Red Field) is shiny and exciting, yet perhaps signifying something not so fun. Both a Poly-fil playhouse and a urethane blood splat are examples of material reflecting what an image looks like and contradicting the tone of what a subject feels like or “means”. Sometimes the material choice does not both challenge and support an image; the material may simply do one or the other. In these cases, when the material does little contradicting, the image(s) itself must create the limbo.
The ephemeral beauty of a mushroom cloud is frightening, how it floats for a minute, delicate and blooming, yet remains chaotic and utterly destructive. We experience a contradiction between what our eyes enjoy and what our mind knows. It is this conflicted experience Dietrich Wegner’s work strives to evoke in a viewer in order that we will have a sparked curiosity and unstable assumptions.
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