Margareta Hesse — Lichtschichten und Phasen

The retrospective solo show "Lichtschichten und Phasen" (Light Layers and Phases) highlights Hesse's exploration of painting as well as light and laser art over the last two decades.

Works by Margareta Hesse invite viewers to immerse themselves in a world in which light, color and form enter into a literal symbiosis. The exhibition presents a carefully curated selection of Hesse's works, including her "Transluzide" (translucides) - large-format wall pieces on semi-transparent polyester panels that achieve a unique depth effect through their superimposition of opaque and transparent surfaces. These works, often featuring silicone, shellac, photography and plastic tubes, testify to a strict seriality and often also to a persistent red that - in its intrusive presence almost bordering on obsession - characterizes the artist's visual language.

The solo exhibition at Galerie Watson is an equal and complementary representation of the visual and empirical diversity of Hesse's oeuvre: what was born in 2008 as an experimental arrangement from painting has since developed into an artistic language of its own in the form of light and laser works. In addition to the painterly wall pieces in the exhibition, Hesse's "Caged Light" object is exemplary of her approach to light as a dual medium: immaterial and at the same time sculptural, almost corporeal, trapped in a glass box. The additional, expansive laser installation, a hallmark of Hesse's artistic practice, demonstrates her ability to transform space and perception through the medium of light and make them tangible. These works are not only visual experiences, but also profound explorations of themes of visibility, body perception and materiality.

The exhibition offers a comprehensive insight into the work of Margareta Hesse. It shows how the artist has transcended the boundaries of traditional painting to enter the field of light art and now speaks various artistic languages fluently.

Margareta Hesse's conceptual oeuvre has constantly evolved, based on inspiration from a perception- and association-oriented analysis of materials. Characteristic of this creative and research process, Hesse's works cannot be viewed in a conclusive manner. The underlying technologies and the nature of the materials make it impossible to arrive at a single truth, a correct view of the works. An exemplary contemporary phenomenon that invites viewers to explore and question the complexity and ambiguity of reality - and of her art, as it were.

In Hesse's world, seeing is not a passive act, but a dynamic dialog.

Text: Marcus Boxler

Photos: Pauline Wegner