Maria Stenfors by Maria Stenfors: In Conversation

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Maria Stenfors with the work by Julia Pfeiffer, Animal Vessel (Figure of the Thinkable), 2013. Photo: M-KOS

Maria Stenfors inaugurated in April 2010 her eponymous gallery in East Central London, and for the last three years, her space has steadily grown to present an innovative program of artists. Her gallery has now been chosen by ArtInfo as one of the Top 10 space of the Art13 London art fair, which launched its first edition last March. During our recent visit to London, M-KOS took the opportunity to interview Maria Stenfors herself.

M-KOS [MKOS]: Can you tell us about your current exhibition?

Maria Stenfors [MS]: We are currently showing works by a Berlin based artist, Julia Pfeiffer, entitled “Figures of the Thinkable”. The show has to do with ‘possibilities’, exploring what has happened, what could have and what should have, happened. Clay or ceramics is the material for her investigations. At every stage, when the clay is wet, dried, fired and glazed, each reveals different possibilities. She has a symbiotic practice of ceramics and photography. In these black and white photographs, she sets a mise-en-scène to arrange the ceramics in different stages. Opposite of these photographs, there are a set of ceramic relief, fired and grazed. On the other side, there is a wall of clay. The clay was delivered dry from the artist’s studio in Berlin, soaked in water, applied onto the wall, then again it became dry and even cracked. The one wall presents a refined quality, the other is totally raw and the photographs show the different stages that create interesting dialogues between the three walls. Julia is one of our core gallery artists that has been with us from the beginning, and this is her second solo exhibition with us.
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Julia Pfeiffer “Figures of the Thinkable” at Maria Stenfors, London

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Image courtesy the artist and Maria Stenfors, London

Julia Pfeiffer
Figures of the Thinkable

27 February – 6 April 2013
at Maria Stenfors, London

Opening: Tuesday 26 February 2013, 6.30 – 8.30pm

To think is not to get out of the cave; it is not to replace the uncertainty of shadows by the clear-cut outlines of things themselves, the flame’s flickering glow for the light of the true sun. To think is to enter the Labyrinth….

–– Cornelius Castoriadis

Figures of the Thinkable is an exploration of what has happened, what could have, and what should have, happened. Possible figures and forms are brought into being through the medium of clay and staged photographs, relaying, reminding, and echoing the movement from thought to laden physicality. Continue reading “Julia Pfeiffer “Figures of the Thinkable” at Maria Stenfors, London”