MANUEL GRAF
WALL SCULPTURES

15 JAN.
26 MAR. 2022

We are delighted to announce Manuel Graf’s fifth solo exhibition at VAN HORN in which he will show for the first time his new 3D printed as well as bronze cast wall sculptures.
Using a 3D printer, Manuel Graf has transformed drawings by Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein into sculptures whose formal appearance bears surprising similarities to work by modernist sculptors of the 1930s and 50s – Jacques Lipchitz, Jacob Epstein, Ossip Zadkine, or the early Henry Moore.

Graf’s sculptures are hybrids, drawing attention to a passion of the Russian director that has received less attention than his iconic films. In 1964, his drawings were presented comprehensively for the first time in London and at the Museum Morsbroich Leverkusen. Eisenstein’s linearly curved drawings, in which he himself perceived an intense connection to dance, are decidedly emotional, at times violent, and sexually ambivalent. One of his early caricatures Eisenstein had signed “Sir Gay”, giving a coded yet humorous indication of his orientation.

By taking this “hidden” side of one of the most important film artists of the 20th century as the starting point for his work, Manuel Graf points to the essential importance of cultural exchange and underscores the creative dynamics of his own artistic practice.

Kay Heymer

MANUEL GRAF | GALLERY EXHIBITIONS