site.btaAustrian Artist Clemens Wolf Opens Two Solo Exhibitions in Sofia

Austrian artist Clemens Wolf is opening two solo exhibitions in Sofia. The project Tension will be on display from March 28 to June 15 at the Plus 359 Gallery in the water tower in the Lozenets residential district, while Plus-Minus will run from March 29 to April 29 at the Charta Gallery, the organizers said.

In his latest works, the artist focuses on the process of transformation shaped by his personal history. Old discarded parachutes (he is a passionate parachutist) are transformed into sensual objects. After being immersed in epoxy resin, they are placed in round frames, hung, positioned as sculptures, or stretched onto frames like paintings. Each fold is carefully arranged and left to dry, the organizers said.

Looking at Clemens Wolf's obsessive and mysterious work, it is obvious that the frontier between painting, sculpture and drawing is very important. "The surface of the pieces with its powerfully vivid palette reveals a world that is nearly organic. While the artist sees the fabric's contractions as a stylized representation of decay and decomposition, the resin he uses to hold the folds in place gives the works a distinctive glossy appearance and an intensity that is brought out by the delicacy of the coiled up parachute cords. The choice of a light and airy object as the parachute evokes the fundamental concept of gravity."

Clemens Wolf was born in 1981. He lives in Vienna. Wolf is fascinated by dilapidated material like fences around dumps, abandoned warehouses and unfinished buildings. He is known for his bold fusion of materiality and concept, where sculpture, painting and installation converge. His works explore the tension between lightness and weight, stillness and movement, stability and vulnerability, capturing the delicate balance between control and release, as noted by critics. Wolf has received several awards, including the Strabag Artaward (2009) and the Anton Faistauer Prize (2011). His work is recognized across Europe, as well as in Turkiye, Israel, the US and China. His pieces are part of numerous private and public collections, including the Albertina in Vienna, the Strabag Art Collection, and the Artothek des Bundes in Vienna.