Heimat

The original location at Rhine kilometre 635 was very close to neo-Gothic Marienfels Castle in a northerly direction along the towpath. Thus the sculpture corresponded with a Madonna statue in a niche in a rock beneath the castle. According to legend, the man who built Marienfels Castle had the statue placed in a crevice in a rock in order to counter the intrigues of the Devil. The latter would no doubt also retreat if faced by Aron Demetz's nude, self-assured, contemporary »Madonna« with her auratic power and ability to put up a fight. Following an act of vandalism the sculpture had to be removed from that location and is now installed in this new setting within the Riverside Sculpture Park.

Aron Demetz's figure gazes unwaveringly and with an earnest expression straight across towards the Rhine. Delicate twigs and leaves grow out of her fingertips. Here the sculptor refers to the Roman myth of Daphne, who changed into a laurel tree to escape from the amorous Apollo and who has frequently been depicted in art. Demetz's figure is standing upright in one of the niches in the wall, and is fixed to a massive pedestal in the form of a tree root. The voluminous growth, which recalls tentacles, seems to be reaching out tentatively as if it wanted to make contact with the underground in order to take root literally and take over its new home. The darkly patinated, bark-like root forms a wonderful contrast with the light patina of the figure; the latter reflects the light as she surveys her setting like a »luminous figure«.

The artist from South Tyrol takes the tradition of wood-carving as his starting point but is highly skilled in transferring his sculptures into another medium. He surprises us with a figure in a highly individual artistic style, examining the question of »home« and the roots of each and every one of us in a very remarkable way.

Aron Demetz was born in Sternzing/South Tyrol in 1972. He lives and works in Gröden/Val Gardena in South Tyrol.