Roman Signer

14.11.–22.12.2012

Roman Signer
Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2012

Roman Signer
Mariage, 2012
Piaggio, Rolls-Royce turbine
155 x 144 x 330 cm

Roman Signer
Mariage, 2012
Piaggio, Rolls-Royce turbine
155 x 144 x 330 cm

Roman Signer
Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2012

Roman Signer
Stühle mit Raketen, 2011
wooden chairs, copper, fireworks
dimensions variable

Roman Signer
Exhibition view, Galerie Martin Janda, 2012

Roman Signer
Kamin, 2012
aluminium, ventilator, paper
H=300, ∅=60 cm

Roman Signer
Explosion einer Schachtel, 2012
metal, cardboard
H=104, ∅=89 cm

Roman Signer
Piaggio mit Haus, 2012
Colour photograph
40x40 cm

Roman Signer
Drei Koffer, 2012
aluminium suitcase, concrete
395 x 11 x 46 cm

Roman Signer
Exhibition View, Galerie Martin Janda, 2012

Roman Signer
Exhibition View, Galerie Martin Janda, 2012

Galerie Martin Janda is showing Roman Signer’s new works between 13 November and 22 December 2012.

“We are connected with gravitational forces, that’s our destiny”. Swiss artist Roman Signer counteracts this fact with his sculptures and incidents he has been documenting ever since the 1970s in photographs and films. In his use of elemental forces he sets in motion daily objects such as umbrellas, chairs or bicycles, thereby lending them a new form.
In doing so, he deals with energy in a controlled way, which is not meant to be destructive but made visible through the act of acceleration, dynamism and change. “I’m not a sculptor who shapes things. My works are about experiencing. Something happens to them. An explosion can form a body, and I’m just fascinated by that force.“ (Roman Signer)

Roman Signer is interested in the contrasts between slow and fast processes, little causes that take great effect, which is true also for Mariage (2012), one of the new sculptures in the exhibition: an 11-hp vehicle carrying a massive turbine on its narrow load platform.

Roman Signer, born 1938, lives and works in St. Gallen (CH).