Esther Kläs in Peru, 2017
"I move step by step, spread, come back.
Jump Forward.
Leave behind/discover new forms.
Use them."
— Esther Kläs
Esther Kläs employs hands-on dexterity with her process-oriented sculptures and works on paper which challenge contemporary sculptural norms and discourses. With links to Postminimalism, she utilizes malleable materials including clay, oil stick, or resin while maintaining an intimate physical relationship with her work. The artist’s distinctive visual language relates to her body in a surrounding environment while simultaneously referencing her inner experience. Appearing at once as independent presences and projections of a poetic imagination, her sculptures and works on paper emphasize the intuitive gestures that shape her work. Questioning the essence of objects and herself within a space, the work suggests relationships of both being and seeing.
Esther Kläs (b. 1981, Mainz, Germany) graduated from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (2007) and received an MFA from Hunter College, New York (2010). She currently lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. Museum exhibitions include The subtle interplay between the I and the me, Kolumba Museum, Cologne, Germany (2021); Esther Kläs: Maybe it can be different, Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, Italy (2020); Esther Kläs: Start, Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel (2019); Proof of Life, Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen, Germany (2018); Esther Kläs: ola/wave, Proyecto AMIL, Lima, Peru (2017-2018); Esther Kläs: Our Reality, Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania, Italy (2015-2016); Whatness, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (2015); Drawing Redefined, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts (2015); Esther Kläs: Girare Con Te, Marino Marini Museum, Florence, Italy (2014); Esther Kläs: Better Energy, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York (2012).
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