A work by Marc Fromm

In my work I deal with the artistic transformation of motifs from

everyday life as well as the social phenomena of our time. I am

interested in how human beings, with their standards and basic

values, behave, present themselves and move within the social

fabric. In the tension between its qualities and shortcomings, the

human figure is often the starting point for my reliefs and

sculptures. The respective relationship of the human being towards

him or herself or towards nature can be read in the current forms

of presentation and in those of the last decades. The archetype of

society, the smallest nuclear of a social life, is the image of “father,

mother, child”, an image that not least due to the long and very

loaded visual tradition of the “holy family”, is deeply rooted in our

society. (*Nativity Scene*, 2011).

Fragments of images and sculptures from past epochs and periods

constantly recur in the motifs. This results in hybrids containing

images of what is occurring in the currently omnipresent multimedia

world. Through the realization of the images using the archaic

technique of carving, motifs and visual language, which seemed to

have long been discarded, they reveal themselves to be unexpectedly

topical and controversial. Particularly with regard to the topics and

images of mundane everyday life, the iconic aspect of today’s culture

with its often century-old symbolism, emerges.

At first glance, I frequently use the same effects as the media and

internet images we are surrounded by: a superficially-oriented, slick

wrapping that is appealing yet often turns out to be soulless

hollowness. As a result, there is a confounding break between

traditional appearance and the images of digital modernism, which

at best leads to a deceleration of images in our fast-paced age.

Contemporary representations, which in their iconographic visual

language are for example reminiscent of medieval saints, are

frequently produced. They are sometimes joined by animals, which

are not only symbols for the human psyche but also references to the

long-felt guilt-ridden relationship between humans and nature.

In order to orientate themselves in the present and to interpret it, the

viewers must be aware of the past and things that have passed. The

examination of the political challenges of our present and future

often leads to a composition that is characterized by a feeling of

perplexity and powerlessness. This frequently results in super-

elevations and ironic metaphors. The works, which often appear to

hover weightlessly, deal with nothing less than the questions of our

time, existence and perishability

Done