Alexej Meschtschanow

In Alexej Meschtschanow's sculptures, everyday objects are freedfrom their common use and the familiarity and symbolic order of institutional furniture are disrupted. Stuhl Nr.12 (Chair Nr.12) and Dämonen benutzen geschlossene Türen (Demons use closed doors) are items of furniture corseted with and cantilevered by crafted steel fixtures. In Stuhl Nr.12, the additional steel constructions arrest the chair in a way that echoes its design and brings to mind a prosthetic device. The sculptural arrangement that carries the door in Dämonen benutzen geschlossene Türen appears more parasitic. The immediate material sensibility of Meschtschanow's hybrid objects invites narratives about adhesion and abuse that situate his sculptures in the realm of the uncanny.