Transformations

The essence of Ralph von Kaufmann's artistic work lies in the three terms

Transformation - Process - Time

Our planet is in a permanent process of transformation by us humans and without us.

This transformation is clearly expressed in the light etchings of the ‘In the Woods’ series. Over time, an entire forest grows over the remains of cars until only fragments of the wrecks can be recognised in the thicket (work #920). It is fascinating how trees have grown out of and over the cars, as if nothing could block their path to the light.

Light-flooded forests on the shores of the Baltic Sea are also the subject of the ‘Coastal Forest’ series; these works are also about transformation processes at fault lines, when the sea transforms the shore in endless constancy. The starting motif for the light etchings is always a carefully taken and selected photograph, which the artist then transforms into an intaglio print via the printing process.

Trees form the basis of his sculptures. They are pieces of wood from the river Elbe near Hamburg. If Ralph von Kaufmann discovers an interesting fragment in the mud at low tide, it is painstakingly and carefully salvaged. After a long drying phase, he begins to process and refine it and building a steel base. In the beginning, they are mostly dark, wet fragments that are barely distinguishable from the slag stones on the shore and only hint at the interesting shapes and precious wood hidden inside.

They are often fragments of piles, dolphins, bollards or groynes that have been moulded by the tidal current over years, decades or even centuries and are sometimes - rather rarely - washed up near the shore. The artefacts are heavily soaked and sometimes icy in winter.

The oak and softwood trunks, which have been rammed into the sediments of the river Elbe for centuries for shipping, are very well preserved due to the lack of oxygen in the brackish water and can last for several hundred years as long as they are not exposed to air. In essence, the quality of the wood is outstanding and the artist's challenge is to uncover and refine it and create a work of art from it.

For Ralph von Kaufmann, feeling the forms - alongside the sculpture in space - forms the 4th dimension. The perception of the art object is not limited to viewing it from different perspectives, but also feeling the finely polished surfaces and shapes and the rough crevices and holes is part of the art experience.

The sculptures have been moulded and rounded over long periods of time by the tidal current of ebb and flow and the fine-grained sediment of the rive Elbe. The many deepenings of the river Elbe over the decades have acted as a catalyst, as the tidal range and tidal current have constantly increased as a result. The reverse transformation is also interesting here:

Long ago, a beam, a pile or a plank was sawn from a tree and used as building material in the waters of the river Elbe. Over a very long period of time, currents and sediments then began to transform the wood into a form that only rarely gives an idea of its original purpose.