Exhibition
It is a strange bunch of characters populating Paloma Varga Weisz's exhibition.
Die Waldfrau (The Wood Fairy), 2002 - a figure carved in wood and dressed in Belgian military fatigues and netting - sits on a slab-cut larch tree log whose boards are separated by wooden spacers. On her lap huddles a small figure whose body is covered in lump-like blobs. A wooden millwheel can be seen in the next room.
Inside the feeding spout that takes the water to the blades of the wheel lies a naked female figure, indicating the direction of the water. This is Die Stubaifrau, 2002 - a reference to a centuries-old craft, the manufacture, in the nearby Stubai Valley, of tools for carving. The world of Paloma Varga Weisz appears dominated by fairy tales and legends, and the titles of her works sound like they might originate from often-heard folktales. It's just that the literary sources cannot actually be found and that the stories do not have an end.
