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Fritz Dietel at Schmidt Dean Gallery
How does an insect construct a cocoon?
Ask Fritz Dietel
ANDREW MANGRAVITE
Fritz Dietel’s work reminds me of the photographs of Karl Blossfeldt. Both possess an exceptional knack for looking at plant life and perceiving its inherent structural design. In Blossfeldt’s two-dimensional work, the payoff takes the form of delicate arabesques. Dietel, on the other hand, works in three dimensions and at a considerably larger scale.
After Dietel imagines the delicate arabesque of a piece like Tufts, he then has to build it. This he does with wood chips, epoxy glue and (one assumes) infinite reserves of patience.
I’m not at all certain whether Dietel works quickly or slowly. We all love that image of the artist delicately toiling away like some one erecting a house-of-cards. But then you look at the scale of the works (the largest of the works in Dietel’s exhibition is 124” x 16” x 18”), and consider the fact that many are hollow, and you begin to suspect that maybe he works very, very quickly, like an insect constructing a cocoon, because the slower the pace, the greater are chances that something can go wrong.
Nature or fantasy?
In the end, Dietel instills in you a new respect for the amount of sheer design inherent in nature— though I’m not certain that everything Dietel does is in fact found in the natural world. He may well be a fantasist who merely uses the natural world as his creative springboard. But whether his Tufts, his Palm and his Shroom exist anywhere outside his mind, there is still the fact that he has created them and placed them on the walls of a gallery.
This is where the other aspect of Dietel’s work comes to the fore. The man is a master craftsman. What he is able to achieve with chips of wood and glue is quite astonishing. The miracle of their existing in the form of wood sculptures echoes the miracle of their existing in nature.
That autumnal feeling
This new show is comprised of nine wood sculptures and two drawings, which appear to be preparatory work for pieces that are not included in this show. The sketches underline Dietel’s interest in design. Clearly he at least draws his initial inspiration from the everyday sights to be encountered in any field. What he does with the raw material extracted from those sights is what makes him an artist rather than a naturalist.
Dietel uses a variety of woods in his work. Maple, cedar, pine, oak and apple woods are all utilized in this exhibition. He often mixes woods of different types to achieve contrasts of color and grain. I suspect issues of malleability and “workability” also come into play. What Dietel finally produces is far from drab, though I must confess that so much bare wood installed in me a pronounced autumnal feeling.
Ask Fritz Dietel
ANDREW MANGRAVITE
Fritz Dietel’s work reminds me of the photographs of Karl Blossfeldt. Both possess an exceptional knack for looking at plant life and perceiving its inherent structural design. In Blossfeldt’s two-dimensional work, the payoff takes the form of delicate arabesques. Dietel, on the other hand, works in three dimensions and at a considerably larger scale.
After Dietel imagines the delicate arabesque of a piece like Tufts, he then has to build it. This he does with wood chips, epoxy glue and (one assumes) infinite reserves of patience.
I’m not at all certain whether Dietel works quickly or slowly. We all love that image of the artist delicately toiling away like some one erecting a house-of-cards. But then you look at the scale of the works (the largest of the works in Dietel’s exhibition is 124” x 16” x 18”), and consider the fact that many are hollow, and you begin to suspect that maybe he works very, very quickly, like an insect constructing a cocoon, because the slower the pace, the greater are chances that something can go wrong.
Nature or fantasy?
In the end, Dietel instills in you a new respect for the amount of sheer design inherent in nature— though I’m not certain that everything Dietel does is in fact found in the natural world. He may well be a fantasist who merely uses the natural world as his creative springboard. But whether his Tufts, his Palm and his Shroom exist anywhere outside his mind, there is still the fact that he has created them and placed them on the walls of a gallery.
This is where the other aspect of Dietel’s work comes to the fore. The man is a master craftsman. What he is able to achieve with chips of wood and glue is quite astonishing. The miracle of their existing in the form of wood sculptures echoes the miracle of their existing in nature.
That autumnal feeling
This new show is comprised of nine wood sculptures and two drawings, which appear to be preparatory work for pieces that are not included in this show. The sketches underline Dietel’s interest in design. Clearly he at least draws his initial inspiration from the everyday sights to be encountered in any field. What he does with the raw material extracted from those sights is what makes him an artist rather than a naturalist.
Dietel uses a variety of woods in his work. Maple, cedar, pine, oak and apple woods are all utilized in this exhibition. He often mixes woods of different types to achieve contrasts of color and grain. I suspect issues of malleability and “workability” also come into play. What Dietel finally produces is far from drab, though I must confess that so much bare wood installed in me a pronounced autumnal feeling.
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