…into deliquescence (undulating) ‒ Vera Kox
-COSAR is pleased to present the gallery’s first exhibition by Vera Kox.
The practice of the Luxembourgish-German artist is characterized by a hybrid character, a formal sculptural language blended with industrially manufactured materials. In the installations within this exhibition, ...into deliquescence (undulating), clay is combined with polystyrol insulation boards.
The colors of these functional products are deliberately chosen, and placed in relation to the cluster-like ceramic structures. The standardized shape, size and color of the readymade boards contrasts with the finely crafted textures and formations of the ceramic. While the insulating panels appear matt, dull, and strangely passive as surfaces, the ceramic bodies appear all the more alive. Their winding forms encourage an active viewing: the surfaces changing with every new viewing angle, oscillating between moist skin and shiny, high-tech textile.
Kox’s installations repeatedly invite comparisons to both the animate and inanimate world, and at the same time raise questions about our own physicality, and our potential for transformation. Following Rosi Braidotti’s words, “to acknowledge the embodiment of the mind and the embrainment of the body”, she dedicates her work to the very substances we are made of, and that surround us; the shared matter that blurs the boundaries where we begin and end. In doing so, the artist creates a liquid artistic cosmos of inviting ambiguity, opening up our perceptions to formerly hidden layers, and inviting us to perceive ourselves as a fluid and porous body within countless other bodies.
Vera Kox studied at the University College for the Creative Arts in Canterbury, UK; then completed her master’s degree at Goldsmiths College, London. Recent shows include: Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; MUDAM, Luxembourg; Kunstverein Reutlingen, and at the galleries Opdahl, Stavanger, and Ribot in Milan. A comprehensive solo exhibition at the Konschthal Esch in Luxembourg will take place in 2023.