Another place, another body, another time. Transformation, nature, and spirituality in Wolfgang Laib’s work
Abstract
As one of the most distinguished figures in contemporary art, Wolfgang Laib (1950) bonds in his oeuvre past and present, the ephemeral and the eternal, the sensorial and the metaphysical, conceptual structures and natural elements, the human and the cosmic. Employing highly symbolic materials such as milk, pollen, beeswax or rice, the German artist create powerful installations that are immersive as they are numinous. His work is based on repetitive gestures and long, cyclical processes marked by the seasons and celebrated in communion with nature. Drawing from Eastern philosophies as well as pre-Renaissance thought, Laib distances himself from Western ideas and anthropocentric convictions in order to restore a more balanced relationship between humankind and the natural world. This text examines his disciplinarian, time-based, and ritualistic methodologies for the purpose of manifesting how art can open up unexpected realms of deeply universal knowledge and reflective contemplation. Due to all the above, we argue that Laib’s minimalistic yet radical visual poetry can be read as a forward-looking vision of resistance and renewal.
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