Anthropomorphe Aspekte im Werk von Joachim Bandau : zur Verantwortung des Künstlers im Spannungsfeld von Ethik und Ästhetik

• Anthropomorphic aspects in the work by Joachim Banau : on the responsability of the artist in the context of ethics and aesthetics

Assenmacher, Karin; Markschies, Michael Alexander (Thesis advisor); Gatzemeier, Matthias (Thesis advisor)

1 ed.. - Würzburg : Königshausen & Neumann (2020)
Book, Dissertation / PhD Thesis

Dissertation, RWTH Aachen University, 2018

Abstract

The sculptural and graphic work by Joachim Bandau, born in 1936 in Cologne, oscillates between multiple styles and disciplines of art: in the early 1970ies, (auto-)mobile anthropomorphic-technoid hybrid figures, made of polyester in utopian design, roam about the exposition spaces, meanwhile since 1978 minimalistic cubes of wood covered with lead, geometrical sculptures of steel and large black watercolour paintings take the leading part of his artwork. Highly elaborated, aesthetic, formal and semantic ambiguity mark his complete works. This study examines the anthropomorphic aspects to be found even in the minimalistic sculptures as "hidden (body-)presences" of human condition inside the core of the geometrical constructions. The analysis of artistic influences and the development of art-historical tendencies in sculpture serve as a clue to approach his eclectic oeuvre. Furthermore, an interdisciplinary recourse on technical philosophy, epistemology and ethics is used to gain a deeper understanding of his work. The artistic responsibility to which Bandau obliges himself, manifests itself in the rejection of the autonomous sculpture in favour of finding sophisticated artistic expression to both discover the coherence of ethics and aesthetics and also critically reflect on cultural and societal conditions with playful seriousness of irony. In the light of contemporary technical developments and ethically responsible assessments, his visionary work proves itself to be highly relevant.

Institutions

• Chair and Institute of Art History [218010]