2000

auf Anfrage zugänglich

Kindergarten Am Bauschweg 2, 80999 München

3 Vasen, Kalkstein, Durchmesser je 1m

Photos: Marijanca Ambos

Text: Birgit Sonna

Gulliver or another giant might have forgotten them on his last adventure, these three vessels on the ground, weighing tons. Wonderfully ambivalent, their appearance fluctuates between the playful and the functional, the fairy-tale-like and the archeological. Seemingly half-buried in the sand, the sculptures are reminiscent of archaic or at least early antique containers. If they were made of clay and not porous limestone, then it would be easy to mistake these vases, with their rather short necks and thick rims, for weathered amphorae. Ambos had good reason to choose natural pigments for painting the refined, simple vessels: in sienna red, iron oxide red, and light sienna, the trio blends in naturally with the garden architecture, even corresponding to the warm tones of the kindergarten building. The shapes also appear to be like slight variations on the same theme. In a dialogue, the round belly of a reclining vase responds to a vertical standing vase and one set at an angle into the sand. Children have long since explored the containers’ practical value: they have climbed on the vases, filled them with sand, used them as hiding places and seats. Still, the ensemble does not reveal its entire secret. For the fact that they are fragments—that they are missing their lower torsos, as it were—could only be known if they were completely excavated. Yet, no one would entertain the idea of removing the figurine-like sculptures from their organoid, sandy island. Looking as if they were placed here centuries ago, the vessels give the site an unmistakable aura.