Ziersch, whose pictures are on view at the Goethe Institut Inter Nationes Gallery in Toronto until April 13, has found a Canadian mentor in sculptor Sorel Etrog. He saw his work in a gallery in Munich two years ago. The Canadian master, who is the guest curator for this exhibit, persuaded the Goethe Institut to bring the 37-year-old German's work to this city.

"The work of Wenzel Ziersch has a magic presence of timelessness, wrote Etrog in the Goethe Institut's brochure."I  wanted to absorb their intimate atmosphere, the obsessive 'madness' of creating them."

Just what is this intimate atmosphere that Etrog speaks of? The above photograph of one of the pieces by Ziersch may not reveal enough, but like all of his other works it is a kind of manuscript. The artist spends an enormous amount of time carefully writing texts from the Bible onto all kinds of surfaces, including glass and Plexiglas. Most of his works are in black, with the text scratched onto the surface, leaving white space. But do not expect to be able to read what he has written. The text is written so closely together, it becomes almost illegible.

Ziersch said he developed his process around 1996 while searching for a new way to express himself. During his experimentations, he happened to scratch his name onto a black-coated piece of glass. As soon as he saw the effect he knew he had found his medium.

"I decided to write down the Bible because it represents the western culture, and it is there that I found a text that interested me especially, 1Corinthians 13.

Ziersch in conversation with an exhibition guest standing in front of the work featuring 1.Corinthian 13.

In this work he used pencil on white latex, writing the text in lines, then between the lines and then over these again until a delicate pattern evolved. Its effect is amazingly calming  on the viewer.

Other works are created with his specially designed steel pen that he uses to scratch text onto Plexiglas that has been coated with various colours. These works, too, seem to be saying to the onlooker, "reflect, think, observe."

When asked whether reading the Bible has increased or degreased his beliefs, Ziersch closed his eyes momentarily and then, with his eyes wide open, said simply: "I believe."

This faith comes through in his work, whether or not one knows that the writings scratched into the surfaces come from the Bible. Etrog stated that after seeing the pictures in the Munich gallery, "I could picture the artists in his studio, the endless hours there, his daily worship and belief in that to which he dedicated himself." He noted that only later did he learn that the writing on the pictures represented passages from the Bible.

Ziersch obviously wants his work to speak for him. When asked for some background about himself, he would only reveal that his is an autodidact, in other words, he is self-taught. Which, of course, seems evident, because there is no one else around who works in this manner. Whether or not he is trained as an artist in another form remains unspoken.

He provided, however, some "work sayings" from which viewers and readers can draw their own conclusions.

Surroundings

Let one reflect on those words and then look at the pictures again. They are testament to what he has written in the "work sayings".

Copyright © 2002-8 CamKohl Arts Productions