Cornelia Caufmann

Cornelia Caufmann is not only an ally of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory and time, the poem Mnemosyne by Friedrich Hölderlin has also been persistent in her thoughts over the years. As in the poem, the idea and the experience that lightning-fast illuminations, insights and intuitive perceptions can occur in special situations of life are thematized in her work.

Continually inspired by literature and music, Caufmann uses visual means to inform the viewer of her search for universal content that stems from form itself. Like radical calligrapher Inoue Yuichi, Caufmann wields ink and brushes to mediate between primitive impulses and the revelation of an internal state of creativity. Yuichi concentrated on the writing of logographic kanji characters in order to directly express the unchained development of his inner power; Caufmann does the same, using a personal and individual strategy. She “writes” with forms, not with an alphabet, and obedient to her own tempo, following an “inneren Antrieb” (internal impelling power).

Text Renee Gadsden Cornelia Caufmann Englisch

Cornelia Caufmann