Her sculptures, though individually created and conceived, are presented in groups in order to investigate the relationships that are generated through the arrangement of forms in space. As a result, the viewer enters into an environment that has been altered by Kläs’s mysterious sculptures, and must locate themselves within it.
Kläs continues her exploration of spatial relationships with Ferma (5), created for the sixteenth iteration of deCordova’s PLATFORM series, which invites emerging artists to engage with the museum’s unique landscape through site-specific installations and outdoor sculpture. For her project, the artist has installed two granite planar forms just inside the forested-edge of the museum’s grounds. Resting on the earth and largely hidden from view, Ferma (5) is meant to be discovered, evoking associations with architectural ruins and stone-laid pathways. Its coarse surfaces are punctured with drilled holes and scored with straight channels, resulting in richly textured forms that are activated by the natural interplay of light and shadow. As viewers, we are invited to examine the relationship among the granite tablets, ourselves, and their canopied environment.
Esther Kläs was born in 1981 in Mainz, Germany. She received her MFA from Hunter College in New York City, where she currently lives and works. Kläs’s work has been featured at The Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany; Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium; MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY; Marino Marini Museum, Florence, Italy; Yvon Lambert, Paris, France; and other museums and galleries in Europe and North America. Her work will be included in deCordova’s upcoming exhibition Drawing Redefined.