Stefan Alexander Kamp: EISENWAREN – Iron as the beginning of all being.
In order to visualise a connection between the human soul and life in a work of art, Stefan Alexander Kamp discovered iron colour and its indefinite variability in its degree of oxidation for himself in 2011. The trigger to devote himself more intensively to this subject artistically was the experience of the Alzheimer’s disease of a close person, which condemns one as a relative to watch and experience the slow disappearance of a personality and the associated farewell to life.
Artistically, he had already dealt with the visualisation of the human soul in his series „Soul Windows“, which were intended to characterise the transition to the ethereal in the small colourful squares. For Stefan Alexander Kamp, the iron paint, which begins to rust on almost every surface by chemical means, stands as a synonym, symbol and connection between life and the soul, which still contains the component of chance. At the beginning of the work, the still grey and inconspicuous iron paint is poured, painted or spatulaed onto the picture support and embodies, as at the beginning of life, a human being born without experiences, sensations and experiences. Finally, the use of chemical agents allows the different variety of iron, the corrosion with its range of red to orange tones, to blossom and at the same time cannot be influenced or stopped by the artist’s intervention. Thus the process is set in motion, but due to the factor of time it develops independently and means a surprise and an experiment with an uncertain outcome at any time.
In the meantime, Stefan Alexander Kamp also integrates wood and gold into his work, thus supplementing his symbolic artworks with elements that represent an essential part of history for mankind. The synonym for the development of mankind with the integrative factor of time and uncertainty is thus transferred by Stefan Alexander Kamp in his works and thus iron stands as the beginning of all being.
www.kamp-kunst.de
https://eisenwaren-kamp.com/
(Text: Gabriele Baumgartner)
Illustrations:

Contributed image: Untitled, 2020, iron paint on canvas, 70 x 70 cm.

Binding, 2019,
50 x 50 cm
on Aquarellpaper

Iron Wood Gold 2018
on Canvas