Unveiling the Eerie Sealant-Based Sculptures: Where Objects Feel Alive

When considering washroom remodeling, you may want to steer clear of hiring the sculptor to handle it.

Certainly, Herfeldt is a whiz with a silicone gun, crafting intriguing artworks with a surprising substance. However the more look at these pieces, the more it becomes apparent that something seems somewhat off.

The thick tubes from the foam Herfeldt forms stretch past their supports where they rest, sagging off the edges towards the floor. The knotty silicone strands swell till they rupture. Certain pieces break free from their acrylic glass box homes fully, becoming a magnet of debris and fibers. Let's just say the ratings would not be positive.

“I sometimes have this sense that objects are alive within a space,” remarks the sculptor. Hence I turned to silicone sealant as it offers such an organic sensation and look.”

Certainly there’s something almost visceral in the artist's creations, from that protruding shape that protrudes, like a medical condition, off its base within the showspace, to the intestinal coils from the material that rupture resembling bodily failures. Along a surface, Herfeldt has framed photocopies showing the pieces seen from various perspectives: they look like squirming organisms seen in scientific samples, or colonies on culture plates.

I am fascinated by that there are things within us taking place that seem to hold independent existence,” Herfeldt explains. “Things you can’t see or manage.”

Talking of unmanageable factors, the poster featured in the exhibition includes an image of the leaky ceiling in her own studio in Kreuzberg, Berlin. The building had been built in the early 1970s and according to her, faced immediate dislike by local people as numerous old buildings got demolished to allow its construction. By the time in a state of disrepair as the artist – a native of that city but grew up north of Hamburg prior to moving to the capital during her teens – moved in.

The rundown building caused issues to Herfeldt – placing artworks was difficult the sculptures without concern potential harm – yet it also proved fascinating. Lacking architectural drawings available, no one knew the way to fix any of the issues that developed. When the ceiling panel within her workspace became so sodden it gave way completely, the sole fix meant swapping the damaged part – and so the cycle continued.

Elsewhere on the property, the artist explains the water intrusion was severe that several collection units got placed in the suspended ceiling to channel the moisture elsewhere.

It dawned on me that this place was like a body, a completely flawed entity,” the artist comments.

These conditions evoked memories of the sci-fi movie, the initial work cinematic piece concerning a conscious ship that takes on a life of its own. As the exhibition's title suggests given the naming – Alice, Laurie & Ripley – that’s not the only film impacting the artist's presentation. These titles indicate the female protagonists in the slasher film, another scary movie and Alien as listed. She mentions a 1987 essay written by Carol J Clover, which identifies the last women standing a distinctive cinematic theme – women left alone to save the day.

“She’s a bit tomboyish, on the silent side enabling their survival because she’s quite clever,” the artist explains about such characters. No drug use occurs or engage intimately. And it doesn’t matter who is watching, everyone can relate to the final girl.”

Herfeldt sees a parallel linking these figures and her sculptures – objects which only holding in place under strain affecting them. Does this mean the art focused on societal collapse than just dripping roofs? Because like so many institutions, these materials meant to insulate and guard us from damage in fact are decaying around us.

“Completely,” says Herfeldt.

Before finding inspiration in the silicone gun, Herfeldt used alternative odd mediums. Past displays have involved organic-looking pieces made from the kind of nylon fabric found in in insulated clothing or inside a jacket. Once more, there's the impression such unusual creations could come alive – a few are compressed resembling moving larvae, some droop heavily from walls or extend through entries gathering grime from contact (Herfeldt encourages audiences to interact and dirty her art). Similar to the foam artworks, the textile works also occupy – leaving – inexpensive-seeming display enclosures. These are unattractive objects, and that's the essence.

“They have a particular style that somehow you feel highly drawn to, yet simultaneously being quite repulsive,” the artist comments amusedly. “It attempts to seem absent, yet in reality highly noticeable.”

The artist does not create pieces that offer ease or beauty. Conversely, she aims for uncomfortable, strange, or even humor. But if you start to feel a moist sensation overhead additionally, don’t say you haven’t been warned.