about…

I have been carving sculptures with a chainsaw for 10 years. During this time I have acquired a special technique and developed my own visual language.

My sculptures challenge the senses and inspire the imagination. With their bright, expressive colors and imposing dimensions, they attract the viewer‘s attention from afar. They are a game of transformation in which figures with human features appear to be in the process of dissolving, rebuilding or otherwise reuniting. This approach creates a fascinating tension between form and resolution.

My artistic career is therefore not only characterized by craftsmanship, but also by a constant search for new forms of expression and a deeper connection to my art.

Andrea Halm mit Gundula+Pinefine bei der Biennale Women in Art, London

„Andrea Halm‘s wooden works are not created from the material, but almost against it. It is not the visual or haptic contact with the apple, poplar or lime wood that marks the beginning of the creation process, but sketches on paper. The figure developed on paper is then carved into the material with a chainsaw. „The wood has to follow me,“ says the artist herself.
However, the figure in the mind‘s eye undergoes changes during this process. In the dialog between the sculptor and the fantasy creature she has created, it gains its own individual character.

In the border area between plant, animal and human, moving and animated figures are created in which overemphasized sensory organs, such as bulging mouths or tentacle-like eyes, contribute significantly to the sensual aura.
This is further intensified by a pop-colored coating of the smoothed surfaces. These thus detach themselves as a shell from a core framed in light-absorbing black. Its multiple perforations ensure a close interlocking of volume and surrounding space.
In addition, the initial volume of the workpiece is reduced to a framework of intertwined lines through numerous openings and holes. Their curved and kinking courses contribute to the expressive dynamism of the figures. On the one hand, they are reminiscent of the art and cult objects of primitive, exotic cultures that inspired the artists of classical modernism. On the other hand, their polychrome poppiness transports us to the aesthetic world of comics or advertising.

The individual character of the figures is then congenially concretized by the artist‘s brother, Jochen Maier. The individual figures, some of which he arranges into groups, are given names corresponding to their individuality, which in turn become part of a lyrical calling card. Initially the result of artistic inspiration, the figures in turn become the source of it. Fantasy figures as fantasy stimulators.“

Quote from Markus Golser, art historian
bei der Ausstellung SkuBi in der Kulturmühle Rechberghausen 2018

…click… to view the publications in the anniversary book “Köngen 950 Years” and on AATONAU

………..Presse……………..

………….making of………………..

SAWN AND PAINTED –
VOM BAUMSTAMM ZUR SKULPTUR…..

FIRST, THE SCULPTURE TAKES SHAPE IN MY MIND, THEN AS A ROUGH SKETCH ON PAPER.
USING VARIOUS CHAINSAWS, I USUALLY CARVE THE SCULPTURES FROM LINDENWOOD, BUT I ALSO CUT INTO OAK, DOUGLAS FIR, PINE, AND POPLAR.
MOVABLE EARRINGS AND INTERTWINED CURLY LOCKS PRESENT A PARTICULAR CHALLENGE. AFTER SAWING, THE SCULPTURE IS SHAPED WITH A FLEX TOOL AND SMOOTHED. THE PAINTING PROCESS GIVES THEM PERSONALITY—THEY ALL HAVE NAMES AND THE STORIES BEHIND THEM – MY BROTHER JOCHEN MAIER IS WRITING THESE FOR YOU JOCHEN MAIER ON THE WOODEN BODY.
WHEN COATED WITH UV VARNISH, THE SCULPTURES BECOME SUITABLE FOR OUTDOOR USE BIRD SCARERS.