"PLAYGROUND"
1202 West Sixth Street
Austin, Tx 78703
512-472-7428
Feb 1 to Feb 23, 2025
The work for the show Playground started last summer and fall when I had lots of time to meander the woods of my childhood town outside of Berlin, Germany.
I also have always been interested in childhood memory, psychology with a particular interest in Family Systems theory.
Playground connects me back to a series of works that I executed mostly from 2007 to 2016 in which children are the main characters of the paintings.The children in this new series are of the more recent past.
Elements of dreams, of fairy tales and of my own childhood play a significant role. The reel-to-reel recorder, bicycles and of course the playground equipment evoke strong memories of my time as a kid and young teen, which give the imagery a sobering aspect of an era, combined with the timeless aura of fairy tales.
The title suggests not all is well in childhoods of the past as well of the present. There is a definite link to the wildfires we are experiencing now on a regular basis, yet fires in a metaphorical sense can also be cleansing, burning away a vision based in fantasy or old belief and behavior patterns. Fire can be purifying.
However my work never springs from a cerebral place, but starts from memory, feelings and stories. It is a visceral process and is meant to leave lots of room for the viewer's individual experience.
Anne Siems
Jan 2025
