Gerhard Demetz

By pure chance I came across Gerhard Demetz and his outstanding wooden sculptures and couldn’t leave them alone. C hildhood innocence mixed with so much bitterness, that is what intrigues and scares me both at the same time. Nevertheless I find them extremely beautiful.

My first association with his work is the impact of war on children and people in general, which is because of the objects they carry (e.g. scissors, gas mask) as well as the way they are dressed (boots, ties, gloves and military style clothing/uniforms). In addition to this, other objects like a sleigh, water wings or several toys appear to be a violent contrast, because they accentuate once again pure childishness and look to me like remnants of a bygone time. On second thought, it might be loss of childhood in general, which may have different deep-set causes and which is expressed drastically through these postures, facial expressions and objects.

These sculptures also remind me of Tarkovky’s film ” Ivan’s Childhood” , which affected me in a similar way.