The «Folded Flat» series that the artist continually developed in the past three years, takes a crucial role within his whole oeuvre and os representative for his artistic approach: the relief-like wall pieces made of monochrome or bicolored aluminum plates were folded in the manner of origami. They have a playful attitude about them and are evocative not only of «shaped canvasses», but also of everyday paper folding. At the same time, this comparison is subverted by the sculptures’ apparently stiff material. Yet we inevitably imagine the gesture that led to the artwork, and this participatory impulse is just what de Ganay aims for.

The folding gestures especially appear in the mind’s eye when facing a sequence of five objects that visualize the gradual folding process of an aluminum sheet that was plane at first. With this ensemble, the artist references Eadweard Muybridge, the famous pioneer of chronophotography who investigated motion sequences of men and animals. De Ganay on the other hand explores our «mental agility» and confronts us with «stills of sculpted time» (de Ganay). 

The new «Flip Flop Folded Flats» are varnished with interference paint, which makes them shimmer magically and us interacting not only mentally but also physically:  we have to move in front of them to discover the whole palette of tones that are contained in them.

Finally, the «non-place» floor sculptures again challenge our imagination: two aluminum replica of cardboard boxes are telescoped in such a way that they merge seamlessly where they meet. A virtual space emerges from this transition zone that never quite reveals itself to the viewer. It is bare of distinct contours – it is a «non-place». The small-scale objects’ title already indicates that this indefinable zone is charged with metaphorical value: de Ganay thus refers to our globalized world’s «non-places» as named by anthropologist Marc Augé in 1992 – shopping malls, highways, airports, waiting rooms. These places all are characterized by a short-term and unsteady meeting of diverse realities, they are bare of identity.   

Sébastien de Ganays works on view at Haus 2226 visualize different spatio-temporal questions that are stimulated by geopolitical, art historical and social contexts. The artist manages to condense these complex subjects with surprisingly fresh gestures, creating aesthetically appealing works that invite us to a joyful dialogue.

Deborah Keller, Häusler Contemporary