Fiene Scharp

Fiene Scharp, born in 1984 in Berlin, lives and works in Berlin. For more information, visit the artist's website.

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In one sentence: What is Concrete Art for me?
I associate Concrete Art with an art movement that operates within a very narrowly defined framework and focusses on mathematical and geometric laws.

Do I see myself as a representative of Concrete Art?
I don't see myself as a representative of a particular genre / school.
On the one hand, I develop my drawings and pictorial objects out of the material: paper, graphite or hair are usually the basic materials whose surfaces I work on by cutting, ablating or embossing.
On the other hand, I play formally with the idea of repetition. By using existing grids as a basis, or by lining up individual elements such as an incision, a dot or a square and constantly repeating them, I create various repetitive structures, systems and rhythms. Here you can see a similarity to Concrete Art.
However, I am interested in the minimal difference within the repetition, the smallest irregularities and breaks in the surface, haptics and rhythm that result from the behaviour of the material and the manual working process. I am fascinated by the stillness, the space in-between, the emptiness, the time, gradual shades, deviations.
This imprecise, inconspicuously deviating and individual is contrary to the original principles of Concrete Art.

Who is my favorite artist in the field of Concrete Art? Which position in Concrete Art was particularly formative or impressive for me? Which pioneers of Concrete Art do I see as role models?
I would like to open up the question from Concrete Art to its international ramifications. I was and continue to be influenced by positions that deal with reduction, repetition, perception and time, such as Agnes Martin, Max Cole, Hanne Darboven, the Polaroids by Inge Dick, or the drawings by Marcia Hafif, ...

What was my first contact with Concrete Art?
Günter Fruhtrunk was probably my first, unconscious contact with Concrete Art.
(My first contact with non-objective art was Kasimir Malevich's work "Black Square on a White Ground".)

Have the early days of Concrete Art had a direct influence on my own work as an artist?
There are certainly similarities, such as the planned execution, the almost mechanical way of working and (apparent) precision, the return to basic geometric forms and constructions.
But I am more interested in the softening of this formal rigour, the barely visible coincidence, the imperfection.
(I see influences on my artistic work more in the experimentation and handling of the material used; in electronic music, such as Steve Reich, Alva Noto, Ryōji Ikeda; or the experience of wide horizons of steppes, deserts or plateaus).

Which principles of Concrete Art have shaped my artistic approach most?
Maybe clarity and reduction. I often use the square as a basic element.

Color, form, or line? Which fundamental form of artistic expression from Concrete Art is most important to me?
The space in-between.

The manifestos of the pioneers of Concrete Art are for me

1. Long-since outdated
2. As valid as ever today
3. Much too dogmatic
4. Of no relevance at all
5. Pioneering for their time x
6. Still a source of inspiration
7. Not radical enough
8. Other assessments:
    

On the hundredth anniversary: Where do I see Concrete Art in another hundred years?

1. The movement within fine art that sets the tone
2. No longer recognizable as a clearly distinguishable art movement of its own
3. Still of great importance x
4. In forms and media that cannot be predicted yet
5. Other assessments:

And? Is the term Concrete Art still necessary (at all)?
Terms are useful for categorising, highlighting and differentiating, recognising similarities and differences.


Translated from German.