Takeover #196 Philipp Groubnov
Philipp Groubnov: Instagram / Website
#196 (07/03 - 11/03, 2022) written by Esther van Zoelen
Inspiring people and creating connections are core values in making art for Philipp Groubnov. Since his childhood and throughout his education of Fine Arts (sculpture) at the KABK in the Hague, his idea of what art is has grown into socially critical and philosophical standpoints. This helps him to find entry points to subjects and phenomena that catch his interest. He typically works on this on his own, but notes that the questions he asks are present within other people as well. In that sense he is working on a collective process. For him, the introduction between his work and an audience is a situation in which the artwork comes alive.
“I think that art is inspiring for a lot of people, as it is for myself. I feel like there are all sorts of connections you can make and build with other people through making art and communicating and sharing certain ideas that you have.”
Through other people the meaning of art can change and become fluid. Philipp recognizes that the more free mental space he gives an artwork, the more it creates an open environment in which his intentions are not restricting other people. He strives for a zone of ambiguity, where the narrative of his sculptures is partly constructed by the background of the viewer: a relation between the material and the mental world.
When I mention his artwork ‘The Pool’ Philipp explains his process of observing to presenting; observations are the biggest part of his practice – moments that happen accidentally, or in his studio – he tries to formalize and de-contextualize them in such a way that its perception is less raw and more his own. This process is never really finished and observations always come creeping back in other, more recent works, with other materials and contexts. This process stems from personal experiences in which he can discover the source of his interest that grounds him and helps him to stay authentic.
“If I say the meaning of an artwork is something, it already is a frame. I try to not go into that direction, but of course when I make something, I probably already think in some sort of narrative and have ideas of meaning that come to my head. I try to put them there, but do it in a way that is not too imposing.”
A cast of Philipp’s head sits on a glass table. One table leg is corroding in a glass bucket filled with water. On the ground by the wall there is what seems to have been a sculpture of a leg, now broken and cracked. This is an imaginary image of Philipp’s work ‘Natural Philosophy’. Philipp says he creates situations, existing of different – living and non-living – objects and materials that communicate and co-exist with each other. As said before, his work is never really finished and that is also true for the material his work is made out of itself. The leg in water will rust its way throughout the duration of an exhibition. In other works, grass will grow or die and water drips into another situation. The different objects within a work are always connected, preferably with as little hierarchy as possible, in a non-linear narrative, without a beginning and an end.
And that is where this introduction will end, with the promise of Philipp sharing the beginning, process and context of his work. During the Rizoom takeover he will expand and tell about the works he already made, what inspires him, material experiments and more happening in his studio.
“I think that art is inspiring for a lot of people, as it is for myself. I feel like there are all sorts of connections you can make and build with other people through making art and communicating and sharing certain ideas that you have.”
Through other people the meaning of art can change and become fluid. Philipp recognizes that the more free mental space he gives an artwork, the more it creates an open environment in which his intentions are not restricting other people. He strives for a zone of ambiguity, where the narrative of his sculptures is partly constructed by the background of the viewer: a relation between the material and the mental world.
When I mention his artwork ‘The Pool’ Philipp explains his process of observing to presenting; observations are the biggest part of his practice – moments that happen accidentally, or in his studio – he tries to formalize and de-contextualize them in such a way that its perception is less raw and more his own. This process is never really finished and observations always come creeping back in other, more recent works, with other materials and contexts. This process stems from personal experiences in which he can discover the source of his interest that grounds him and helps him to stay authentic.
“If I say the meaning of an artwork is something, it already is a frame. I try to not go into that direction, but of course when I make something, I probably already think in some sort of narrative and have ideas of meaning that come to my head. I try to put them there, but do it in a way that is not too imposing.”
A cast of Philipp’s head sits on a glass table. One table leg is corroding in a glass bucket filled with water. On the ground by the wall there is what seems to have been a sculpture of a leg, now broken and cracked. This is an imaginary image of Philipp’s work ‘Natural Philosophy’. Philipp says he creates situations, existing of different – living and non-living – objects and materials that communicate and co-exist with each other. As said before, his work is never really finished and that is also true for the material his work is made out of itself. The leg in water will rust its way throughout the duration of an exhibition. In other works, grass will grow or die and water drips into another situation. The different objects within a work are always connected, preferably with as little hierarchy as possible, in a non-linear narrative, without a beginning and an end.
And that is where this introduction will end, with the promise of Philipp sharing the beginning, process and context of his work. During the Rizoom takeover he will expand and tell about the works he already made, what inspires him, material experiments and more happening in his studio.