​Ralf Sander - Artist

The Iksan Stoneland symposium is one of Asia’s most prestigious stone sculpture project I was chosen by a jury of Korean Art curators and critics such as Jun, Seung-Bo curator of the Busan Biennale and director of the 2nd Gwanju Biennale. The sculptures will find a permanent home in the Iksan-si Jeollabuk-do Park, a historic site.I was working alongside Alan Sonfist environmental artist, USA, Joel Gray, sculptor and assistant of Anish Kapoor UK, Navin Rawanchul, representative of Thailand in Venice Biennale, Chen Wenling From China among 14 selected artist from 11 countries. The proposed a project that can just be made with the help of contemporary industrial techniques. It is a sculpture consisting of thin granite sheets the most common way granite is used in actual architecture.The concept is linked to my early wooden figures, which emerged from large tree trunks. Here, I reveal a female figure in a stone, again through subtraction, but while retaining the outlines of the rock.The Hidden Artist is a female figure, hidden in the stone. Female artists in the past mostly did not have the social possibility to reveal their true identity and work in their chosen field: they even had to keep their passion hidden, especially in the case of sculptors. Very few became famous, and only a few are recognized today. The viewer will see a stone block, cut into sheets. Only from a certain point of view the figure within this block will become visible. The figure will be adapted to the stone. On both sides are inscriptions.On one side one can read “> THE HIDDEN ARTIST”, on the other side ”> THE ARTIST OF THE FUTURE”