Sonja Vordermaier
Artist Profile
Sonja Vordermaier lives in Hamburg, Germany. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg and had many solo exhibitions in Germany, Switzerland and the United States. She has won numerous awards and scholarships, such as the Hector Art Prize in Mannheim, the MAK Schindler Scholarship in Los Angeles, and the Hamburg Art Stipends Prize. In 2019 she participated at the Taoyuan Landscape Art Festival.
Selected Exhibitions
2019
- Taoyuan Land Art Festival, Taiwan
2016
- Erich Hauser Art Foundation, Rottweil, Germany, Über alle Maßen
2015
- Marta Herford Art Museum, Germany, Harmony and Transition
- Künstlerhaus Sootbörn, Hamburg, Germany, 150 Watt
2013
- Institute of Modern Art, Nuremberg, Germany, The Invisible Volume*
- Kunsthalle Mannheim, Nur Skulptur
- IBA Hamburg Opening, VTOPIA
2012
- Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Von Sinnen
2011
- Kunstverein Cuxhaven, Schlafwandler*
- Schloss Agathenburg, nüchterne Räusche
2010
- Marta Herford Art Museum, Germany, Unsichtbare Schatten
- Kunstplattform IBA Hamburg, Akademie einer anderen Stadt
- Tip Top Stop, Heimat- und Sachkunde
- Skulpturenweg LGS Rosenheim, Leuchtenwald
2009
- de Soto Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, Sonja Vordermaier*
(* =solo exhibitions)
Artwork
Title: Castles Made of Sand
Year: 2024
Dimensions: 12 x 10 x 3.5 m (L x W x H)
Material: sand, sandbags of special materials
Sand is the material on site and easily available – sandbags are highly constructive in positive means: they form a new architecture/sculpture, which usually not only becomes a shelter: they are the base of the world of plants which take over and grow weeds until the whole sandbag construction becomes a piece of landscape. I like the idea that the sandbag sculpture will be slowly occupied by plants. It will change its form and will dissolve over the years by itself.
The working title, Castles Made of Sand, is a little misleading in a poetic way. (It refers to a song by Jimmy Hendrix, “castles made of sand… drifting into the sea, eventually”). The shape of the sandbag-sculpture alludes to something secret and very valuable being hidden inside.