TOBIAS PUTRIH
Corner Entrance, 2012
Fluorocarbon lines, lead weights, powder-coated stainless steel
13' 1 1⁄2" x 16' 4 7⁄8" x 8' 2 7⁄16" (400 x 500 x 250 cm)
Courtesy the artist and BEAM Contemporary Art
Photography by Jerry L. Thompson
Tobias Putrih takes inspiration from visionary architecture, science, and alchemy. The implied proposition of an architectural model appeals to him: "More and more I believe art today must be in the first instance practical — it has to propose abstract but applicable inventions, ask and attempt to answer questions that are not strictly self-referential." This ethereal work, which passes in and out of visibility depending on light conditions, is one in a series of complementary architectural fragments. He has referred to this series as "disappearing architecture," spindly segments of a larger imagined structure.