Helmut Lang: Various Conditions

Helmut Lang's sculptures and objects oscillate between figuration and abstraction. They borrow from some forms of classical sculpture (wall reliefs, freestanding sculptures) and ritual objects (idols), which he deconstructs, abstracts, and transforms during his artistic work process. Essentially, this is achieved via the radical reduction of form and color, through decontextualization—which is based on the variable integration of objects and sculptures into superordinately installative space design and by the use of readily available materials like scrap metal, fabric, or industrial waste. Lang has stated he prefers materials “with a certain history, elements with irreplaceable presence and with scars and memories of a former purpose.” The fabric scraps he molds with resin into sculptures are, for example, the remains of his archive "Séance de travail," which he shredded in an act of creative destruction in order to generate from it something new. Lang's dealings with material allows for contextualizations with Vienna Actionism, in which material collages and structural studies of a wide variety of materials play an essential role according to the equation "matter = color." Everything is material and is treated equally, whether it is mud, scrap, food, blood, or, as a further consequence, the body.