Katja Davar – Forking Ocean Path

Forking Ocean Path is a new body of work commissioned by Drawing Room and comprises 3D animation, large-scale drawings and a silkscreen and embroidery on canvas. These works, together with an earlier animation People Who Trash Elevators, address the self-destructive nature of mankind and posit a possible outcome. Making reference to Leonardo da Vinci’s treatise on water, which addresses the integration of land and sea, Davar presents an undersea world devoid of human life.

Drawing is a favoured medium as Davar feels that it strikes just the right tone and enables her to deal with weighty issues in an understated way. The 3D animations represent an ideal medium to deal with the complexity of her subject matter.  In the new animation, a creature, part marine and part machine, slowly floats upwards through the remnants of an industrial city at the bottom of the ocean.  The imagery is poignant and the short, silent animation is an understated reminder of the precariousness of our civilisation and the force of natural phenomena.  Importantly, these animations are set within carefully designed three dimensional screens which enhance the enigmatic combination of traditional drawing and sophisticated computer-aided animation.

Katja Davar was born in London and now lives and works in Cologne.  She has had solo exhibitions at Galerie Iris Kadel, Karlsruhe, (2005, 2003), Galerie Otto Schweins, Cologne, (2003, 2000), Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, (2001), Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn (2001), PARKHAUS, Düsseldorf (2000) and has been included in numerous group exhibitions throughout Europe.

A catalogue will be published to coincide with the exhibition with a text by Tom Holert, (Co-founder of the Institute for Studies in Visual Culture, Cologne, author of several books and regular contributor to Texte zur Kunst and Artforum).