DAVE GROSSMANN (born in Jena in 1989) dedicates his work to the relationship between chaos and rhythm. Under the motto ‘Between Falling and Folding,’ Dave Grossmann exhibits works at the foundation that contrast the tipping point into disorder with folding as an active process of ordering. Chance and intervention are explored in all their nuances and revealed as a system full of complexity.
He has further developed his "Signature" series for the foundation. With a monumental work temporarily applied to the wall on the upper floor of the Foundation Hall, Dave Grossmann intervenes in the space and at the same time introduces the motto of the exhibition. The geometric bodies on display appear to be falling or turning like pirouettes. Depending on how they are read when viewed, they can represent both a recovery and an uncontrolled fall. They thus build up a tension that gives space to the boundary between control and loss of control.
His series "In Shape" was initially created as a collection of 1,000 drawings, a tour de force based on a simple coordinate system. They form the basis for a series of differently folded forms, which Dave Grossmann lets float as seemingly three-dimensional bodies on different backgrounds. In the Foundation Hall, the lightness of the wooden reliefs contrasts with the hardness of the hammer finish.
Traps and folds or chaos and order are combined in the works in which Dave Grossmann reveals the structure of the OSB panels, which were created mechanically and seemingly at random, with their criss-cross layers of wood shavings. He covers them with a white chalk ground and transforms them, seemingly tamed, into solid structures that feign a depth that has overcome their arbitrariness. Falling, they seem to move across the walls and are simultaneously caught by the white of the wall and the opaque paint.
Dave Grossmann lives and works in Berlin. Before devoting himself entirely to the visual arts, he worked as a professional dancer for twenty years. His approach to the subject of space is characterized by this experience. Dave Grossmann is a permanent fixture among the "young" concrete artists. He focuses his artistic research on the question of how radical abstraction can take shape through to concretion and does not limit himself to the visual arts. With his multi-award-winning magazine KWER, which he has published for five years, he provides this scene with a forum that contributes significantly to the further development of concrete art.
For the year 2025, the foundation has invited three artists under the motto "on space" who are dedicated to the theme of space and explore it as a prerequisite for the relationship between art and the viewer. After Robert Steng and Udo W. Hoffmann, Dave Grossmann is the third artist in this exhibition series.