BALTIMORE, MD - C. Grimaldis is pleased to present Earth, Light, Paper, Steel, a two-person exhibition of work by German sculptors Annette Sauermann and Madeleine Dietz. This survey display of drawings and wall structures reimagine architectural forms to build new perspectives on abstraction and functionality.  The artists last showed together at the Macedonian Museum for Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Greece in 2011.  Their work was brought together in a dialogue concerning materiality and labor.  By employing basic raw materials - earth, light, paper, steel - the sculptors bring forward questions of man’s constant desire to construct space, while allowing the viewer to dictate how that space will be navigated.  

Sauermann’s translucent acrylic wall sculptures respond to the ambient light in a room.  Their rich color creates a luminosity that vibrates through the space in stark contrast to the stoic mixed media drawings of similar form.  Dietz’s work responds with texture, disrupting clean geometry with organic, cracked earth. The materials in her sculptures are inherently dichotomous, yet their kindred hard surfaces communicate ideas of decay.  Both Sauermann and Dietz consider space to be an integral part of the work; embracing formalism, building tension in materials, balancing the natural and the industrial.     

Annette Sauermann (b. 1957, Essan, Germany) studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen, Germany from 1979 to 1986. She has produced recent solo exhibitions at Galerie Linde Hollinger (Ladenburg), Galerie Lausberg (Düsseldorf), Galerie ARTFORUM (Antwerpen, Belgium), and Galerie Claude Samuel (Paris, France).  Sauermann is included in many of Germany’s most prominent collections, including the Ludwig Foundation in Aachen, the Museum Ritter in Waldenbuch, the Museum Biedermann Art.Plus in Donaueschingen, the Agathe and Maximilian Weidhaupt Collection in Munich, the Schroth Collection in Soest, and the Foundation Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf.  

Madeleine Dietz was (b. 1953, Mannheim, Germany) has exhibited widely throughout Europe and the United states including Galerie Georg Nothelfer (Berlin), Galerie Sonja Roesch (Houston, TX), Museum der Minoriten (Graz), Galerie Linde Holinger (Ladensburg), and Ernst Barlach Museum (Ratzeburg), among others. Her work is in many museums and private collections, including the Kunsthalle Mannheim, Wilhelm - Hack Museum (Ludwigshafen), Museum of Contemporary Art (Neubrandenburg), and the New Museum (Weserburg). She has concurrent exhibitions at Galerie Georg Nothelfer (Berlin) and Galerie Sonja Roesch (Houston, TX). 

Earth, Light, Paper, Steel will be on view at C. Grimaldis Gallery from March 7 through April 13, 2024.