Volker Saul, Aftermath – Turning, 2020
HD video, music: Dave Liebman, Richie Beirach, Florian Van Volxem; 33 paper cuts, acrylic on Zerkall handmade paper, two layers, each 76 x 55,3 cm
On the occasion of a recent donation, the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum shows a new group of works by the artist Volker Saul, who comes from Düren and lives and works in Cologne and the Eifel.
Based on improvisations by jazz musicians Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach, which were recorded in 2017 with sound designer Florian Van Volxem at music producer Kurt Renker's CMP Studio in Zerkall and compiled into a sound collage under the title "Aftermath" Volker Saul has created an abstract animated film and thirty-three paper cuts laid out in austere yet tonal black and white. The digitally animated film, also produced in cooperation with Kurt Renker, sets the emerging forms and structures, which also contrast with each other in the paper cuts, in motion and unfolds their dynamic potential. They assert or negate corporeality, organize spatial perception, and enter into changing constellations with one another. A symbiotic relationship develops with the sounds of the music – which was modified in response to Volker Saul's visual initiative and specifically for this purpose. The work, which exemplifies Volker Saul's cross-media and collaborative artistic approach, is titled "Aftermath – Turning": a reference to the moment of turning, which plays a central role here and is directly related to the importance of the temporal aspect for both the film images and the music, while the number of paper cuts created is a reference to the thirty-three revolutions that an LP makes per minute.
Born in 1955, Volker Saul was one of the first fellows of the Günther Peill Foundation at the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum in 1987, established by Carola Peill in memory of her husband Günther Peill. In 2004, Volker Saul was the art prize winner of the district of Düren and in 2015 he had a solo exhibition at the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum under the title "Shapes – Work in Progress" with wall paintings, aluminum and paper cuts and animated videos that related to each other conceptually, formally and in terms of content. At that time, a concert with the New York jazz musicians Richie Beirach and Dave Liebman took place at the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum during the Long Night of Museums at the invitation of the artist and Kurt Renker.
The donation and presentation of "Aftermath - Turning" follows on sensibly from this and, with reference to the specific properties and visual qualities of the material paper, substantially expands the stock of works by Volker Saul within the art collection of the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum. On view is "Aftermath – Turning" from April 10 to September 4, 2022, with the opening taking place on Sunday, April 10, 2022 at 12 noon.
