Mischa Sanders & Philipp Putzer

SUN. The 5th edition of Carte Blanche welcomes Mischa Sanders and Philipp Putzer as its protagonists. The two 1994 born visual artists form a duo of contemporary sculptors and work with multiple mediums. By reinventing ways of investing space through historical and ancestral techniques, they pose, together, new views on the questions of urbanism and ecology of our time. No question of stopping at the mastery of a technique or a material: whether it is pouring concrete, plaster, giving shape to wood or even earth, moulding ceramics and bronze or polishing polyester it is a real dialogue that takes place between palpable realities and ideas. Something raw emerges. Going back to the origins, to the so-called primitive constructions represents for the artists a continuity between times. Paradoxically, with their apparent calm, Mischa Sanders and Philipp Putzer have chosen to inscribe their artistic practice in the pulse of modernity, following the movement of West African megacities as the duo currently lives and works in Dakar, Senegal. The selection of works shown at Carte Blanche #5 with its title SUN is an overview of recent works some done as individuals some as a duo. Interesting to understand how the different approaches on some works and topics seem to vanish in others where the artists worked with four hands. Works in ceramic by Mischa Sanders recall the depth of the sea and its inhabitants.

Mischa likes to work with materials that first began by drawing. Through the medium she picks up, she includes the process of creation in her works. For example, her clay pieces, which are very rigid, were initially worked using the modeling properties of moistened clay. The outdoor sculpture that resembles an enormous flower is made of concrete, clay, and fiberglass and many parts are inscribed in the material, that appeal to us. Hammered, filed, sawn – the works of the artist duo vibrate under the weight of the transformations. The works of Mischa Sanders and Philipp Putzer have a sonic allure, exuding a certain roughness.

Philipp Putzers sculptures (helmets) made of polished polyester with the title “Say goodbye to the wind“ recall motorbike helmets, the insides taken out, the shell polished like a pearl, the visors speckled as a symbols of speed, made to pause, reduced to their essentials, their form. Collages transformed in to digital prints show pages with advertisements for torn out of glossy magazines, covered with kinesio tape. Kinesio tape as a hint to the fast-moving life slowed down in its fleeting moment and captured in the moment.

Philipp Putzer plays with apparent opposites in his works, reduces creative chaos to its essence without depriving it of the freedom of being. The freedom of being, on the contrary: the artist allows the material he works with to unfold its own individual characteristic whether paper, plastic, wood or concrete, everything eventually takes on its own direction at some point. Philipp’s artistic practice is related to arte povera in its use of raw materials such as plaster and clay, but also in the statement of his works. He aims to ensure that the messages emerging from his work are open to discussion and to various interpretations, but above all are accessible to all.

The collaboration of the two artists consist in a process of understanding and balance led by their single practices. Some pieces fit together and are found naturally, others, from their birth, are made to form a harmonious whole. Committed to a path that leads them to draw on the roots of humanity, the artists transcribe a precise vision of current issues. Whether urban or ecological, it is in a whisper that the alchemists of matter turn brutality into a suspended sweetness.

This space is dedicated to showcasing contemporary artistic perspectives, offering both local and international artists the opportunity to exhibit their work through a hybrid format: an online virtual gallery alongside a physical exhibition space located within Aurora.