Hortus Conclusus

Bernd Krauss is a multi-media artist interested in situational artistic creation
in site-specific scenarios. His work often functions as a means todiscover
an unidentified end, and he makes use of simplistic human actions in public
spheres to encourage interaction with the pedestrian world. The artist’s subtle
transgressions into the public world often demand either a literal or more
psychological self-reflection from passers-by about their place, both publicly
and privately, in greater society.

In his exhibition at Artspace, Krauss has scavenged the basement of the gallery, collecting a variety of things ranging from obsolete computer monitors and sections of unused plywood siding to painted bricks and a carved owl — creations of previously exhibited Artspace artists. His curious assemblages mimic the aesthetics of modernist sculpture in their formal simplicity yet also function as spatial barriers and substitutions for natural phenomena occurring elsewhere.  Krauss’ scavenged version of a “Hortus Conclusus” or an “enclosed garden” speaks to the impulse to connect the interior with the exterior, the individual with the communal, and the observer with the observed through subtle performative interventions.

Read an interview between the artist and the curator here.