The artist book Sand is Water You Can walk On by Katharina Schilling brings together the series of paintings of the same name with texts by the authors Eva Hegge, Miriam Stoney and Sophia Eisenhut. In her series of works, Schilling refers to Gothic illuminations, an early form of painting that tells of a time before the concept of the subject.
The engagement of (art) historical themes from an anti-subjective, utopian-speculative perspective informs Schilling's work. The three authors touch on themes from Schilling's paintings and write texts that diverge in form and content. With her story, Eva Hegge submerges us in a dreamy, nerdy narrative. Miriam Stoney delves into mathematical, lyrical deconstruction and Sophia Eisenhut swirls the most diverse strands into a medieval pop melange.
The three texts stand alongside the paintings on an equal footing and forge new connections not only with the paintings but also with each other. Intertextual references to feminist literature, medieval poetry and political as well as geometric theory emerge.
While the artistic exchange between the authors and Schilling is obvious, the publication deliberately leaves unclear whether the texts refer to the paintings or vice versa. If you follow the pictures, the three voices speak to you again and again; if you follow the texts, your gaze is drawn back to the pictures. The open principle of the publication moves incessantly between the different subject areas and creates a lyrical form that opens up more gaps than it closes.
Katharina Schilling (born 1984 in Cologne) studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig under Neo Rauch, among others. Later she graduated as a master student under Heribert C. Ottersbach. In 2016 she was the recipient of the Marion Ermer Prize, and Katharina Schilling was one of the nominees for the Böttcherstrasse Art Prize 2018 in Bremen, in conjunction with an exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen.
In Katharina Schilling's painting, well-known everyday objects–vases, sponges, fruits, or template-like drawings float weightlessly in images free from time and space. Shadowless and flawless, the objects stand out against reduced backgrounds and maintain their inwardness in supposed calm and order. In the images, speculation about preservation and negation is reflected in the arrangement and oscillation of objectivity and abstraction.
