Certain works have the capacity to transcend any given category by their poetic and indefinite character. Astrid Krogh’s CLOUD ILLUSIONS II is like an invitation to meditate on the flux of life with its aluminum mirror surface of engravings and perforations forming large clouds of an ever-changing character. The work’s interaction with the ambient daylight is both strong and subtle with soft reflections moving in light shadows over the floor and spreading to the entire room. The soft quality of the thin mirror surface even gives a slight vibratory motion in the work, enhancing the feeling of life and inviting the mind to float like clouds in the sky.
The fluidity of the material combined with Krogh’s calligraphic traces and the vertical format may equally recall the spirit of the Chinese wash drawings from the Sung Dynasty, in which the idea of capturing the breath of life and nature by means of only one color was essential. Only in Krogh’s work color and life are no longer added, they are reflected. While working on CLOUD ILLUSIONS II, Astrid Krogh was listening to the soulful piece of music « Spiegel im Spiegel » (Mirror in Mirror) by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. Just as « Spiegel im Spiegel » CLOUD ILLUSIONS II poetically refers to the infinity of images produced by parallel plane mirrors: the tonic triads are endlessly repeated with small variations as if reflected back and forth.
Cloud Illusion III
2015
Aluminium
H 280 x L 330 cm
Unique Piece
Cloud Illusion III
2015
Aluminium
H 280 x L 330 cm
Unique Piece
Cloud Illusion III
2015
Aluminium
H 280 x L 330 cm
Unique Piece
Cloud Illusion III
2015
Aluminium
H 280 x L 330 cm
Unique Piece
Astrid Krogh is working at the intersection between art, architecture and design. Born in Denmark in 1968, Krogh graduated from the textile faculty at The Danish Design School in 1997 and established her own studio the following year, where she started using optical fibers to create woven textiles, thereby weaving with light itself. Krogh’s point of departure from conventional textile design was not merely her fascination with light but also her at traction to shape-morphing objects and shifting colorways, “I use light as both a material and a technology”, Krogh explains. Few artists speak a refined language as fluently as Astrid Krogh, who uses light to describe aspects of Nature that words simply cannot. Her vocabulary is nuanced by sensory experiences, which are articulated through a lexicon of color and light. Astrid Krogh’s works are included in important museum collections, such as the Designmuseum Danmark and the 21C Museum International Contemporary Art Foundation, USA. She has carried out monumental light installations and site-specific commissions for private and public collections, such as the 21C Museum International Contemporary Art Foundation, Cincinnati, USA; Longchamp Flagship store, Paris, France; Danish University Center, Beijing, China; Maersk building, Copenhagen, Denmark; and Danish Parliament, Copenhagen, Denmark. Krogh’s works are published in important books about contemporary textiles, architecture and design and the artist has won several prizes, including the Thorvald Bindesboell Medal, the Inga & Ejvind Kold Christensen Prize, the Annual Honorary Grant of the National Bank of Denmark, the Finn Juhl Architecture Prize and the CODA Award.