Boiled Wool and Cat Hair

The new ART + OBJECT sector believes in the continuity of the timeless and dares to take a sideways glance at ephemeral plant objects.

An important Franconian chest of drawers, mid 18th century. The design goes back to Franz Xaver Habermann (1721-1796), 76 x 107 x 66 cm, Courtesy Dr. Schmitz-Avila Kunsthandel

Ganesha (details), Eastern India, Pala period, 11th- 12th century CE, Phyllite. Height 45 cm, Courtesy Michael Woerner, Hong Kong, © Schanze Fotografie, Dusseldorf

Cologne Fine Art & Design (Cofad) referred to itself most recently as a “Temporary Cabinet of Wonders.” The Cologne flagship for art and antiques could look back on a success story spanning five decades, under changing names and concepts. Now a new era is dawning with “ART + OBJECT” as a subsection of ART COLOGNE.

Sebastian Jacobi, ©Arndt Sauerbrunn, Dusseldorf

It is curated by design specialist Sebastian Jacobi, who exhibited at Cofad for the first time in 2019 and is now getting on board for the new start with his design and antiques gallery Meinweiss Home. The focus is on applied art, which Jacobi sees as subsuming design, Asian art, non-European art, and jewelry. The emphasis on stand design will be intensified, as a source of inspiration for one’s own four walls.

Handpicked quality

Kinetic Ring, Gallopade, design Georg Hornemann 2020, 35 mm, diamonds, white gold 750, ©: Georg Hornemann KG, Berlin, Photo: Martin Klimas

The smaller size of the fair within the fair has of course reduced the number of the participating galleries. By the same token, the sixteen chosen ones are sure to provide top quality. Jewelry expert Georg Hornemann, for instance, is bringing kinetic ring sculptures made of diamonds, sapphires, and gold in the five-figure price range.

Timeless design with architectural reference

Meinweiss from Bad Ems is interested in timeless chairs designed by Asnago & Vender as well as armchairs by Viennese modernist Josef Hoffmann. The main theme of many Italian architects was urban planning. They left their mark in Milan in particular. Their furniture reflects their architectural philosophy: the surfaces are punctuated by empty spaces, and the material is discreetly restrained. Also at the fair: an abstract-looking sphere-shaped vase by BBPR, an Italian group of architects founded in 1932.

Asian sculptures and extraordinary materials

Sofie Dawo, Unique, 1965, woven wool mounted on cardboard, 65,5 cm x 50,5cm, Courtesy Jochum Rodgers, Berlin

Berlin-based Jochum Rodgers is presenting a special show devoted to Sofie Dawo. The textile artist, born in 1926, boiled wool to be able to use it for three-dimensional works. It was solely the material and its properties that determined her works, which were close to the design principles of Zero and Informel.

Dierking from Zurich is sharing its stand with Michael Woerner from Bangkok/Hong Kong. Early Asian art from the Robert & Alice Piccus Collection in San Francisco, including sculptures of the deity Ganesha, is joined by new works by Per Kesselmar, Otto Boll, and Christiane Löhr, who lives near Florence and in Cologne. The sculptor took part in the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001 at the invitation of Harald Szeemann.

Christiane Löhr, Mountains, 2021, Ivy seeds, 16 x 69 x 30 cm, © Studio Christiane Löhr, Cologne, Courtesy Dierking, Zurich

Löhr, who was in Jannis Kounellis’s master class at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, uses ephemeral materials such as seeds, thistles, tree blossoms, dandelions, and cat hair for her ravishing sculptures in the tradition of Arte Povera and assembles them into wondrous architectures. Many of the arrangements are in glass cases to protect them from drafts and abrupt hand movements. Does this pose a challenge to collectors? Not at all, if they don't think in terms of too many generations, Löhr says. “They’ll definitely last for at least a hundred years.”

Text: Alexandra Wach