Rule & Freedom

That Dave Grossmann, as an artist, undertook to create a large compendium of geometric drawings, the initial rules of which were laid down by him beforehand, which formed the backbone for what was to be created, and yet at the same time gave him a freedom not to see any drawing as a repetition of another, must first be noted with astonishment and respect.

The fact that the artist self-confidently used the graphite pencil as his main working instrument - and not the computer with its graphics programs - alongside his imagination and vision or his intellectual and analytical eye, testifies to his claim to be absolutely master of the thing to be created himself, even in the classical sense of craftsmanship. Man versus machine, set of rules vs. chance, order vs. freedom/chaos. In other words: both together generate as an indispensable pair of destinies so far the charm of his artistic work. The last exhibition SEMI COLLAPSE 2020/2021 has already demonstrated this well.

But not enough with it: In three years, 1000 drawings in 7 A4 sketchbooks were created! These were summarized as a compendium in his artist book IN SHAPE /ENDURANCE IN GEOMETRIC CONSTRUCTION\*, which he produced and published himself in an edition of 300 in 2022, including an original drawing integrated in the book, as an original (not to be hung on the wall!) representative of the many drawing possibilities on 336 pages. In it are also gathered a clever essay by Dr. Theres Rohde (Museum of Concrete Art in Ingolstadt) and the artist's explanation of his set of rules. The book itself is an aesthetic delight, stringent and harmonious in its design and executed in a quality that has become rare.

Now this compendium forms the matrix for the new to be created, which he has drawn from the experience of this Carthatic project. And here again. The single elaborated form is used as a set of rules (here model, module, template, starting point) to find its own new life in a wide variety of techniques and materials.

The exhibition will be a concert of the senses. Centrally positioned, the artist's book will take center stage as a spiritual center, as the archive, or profanely understood as a model catalog. Around the book, Dave Grossmann will present an excerpt of groups of works derived from it to date, ranging from spray-paint paintings on rusty iron plate to computer-assisted milling of color-framed wall reliefs, to paintings on canvas or on metal with impact metal paint, and to enchanting burn drawings. The possibilities are endless, as well as it was the modulation of the drawing geometric shapes in his self-imposed set of rules. 1000 pieces are just another self-imposed limitation. But even in the limitation the artist creates the aesthetic added value.

Semjon H. N. Semjon, January 2023

\*The impressive artist book can be purchased at Semjon Contemporary


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