Creating large textured structures, Katharina Fitz’s work walks the line between the sleek and the experimental. We head down to Beam Gallery to explore her latest exhibition, SHAPE-SHIFT, to see how she uses industrial materials to create her final pieces, alongside learning more about her new book, When Seams Become Audible - Sculpture and Photography 2013–2022…

The latest exhibition at Beam Gallery has turned the space into something like an archaeologist’s study room, filled with curious discoveries from an unknown place and time. There is a mystery to the giant hulking sculptures and mechanical shapes that fill the place. Both pristine and decaying, the artworks appear like relics of strange machines that are obscured by brilliant white rock. This is artist Katharina Fitz’s latest series of work, SHAPE–SHIFT , which is now presented at Beam Gallery.

The exhibition consists of sculptural and drawing work by the Nottingham artist. The artworks are made of large, rough industrial materials with heavy, rusted textures that are juxtaposed with precise and delicate mechanical forms. Her work is highly experimental, and this exhibition is the current stage of an ongoing process of experimentation and thought that Fitz has undertaken for the past ten years. The exhibition was timed to coincide with the launch of a new book that Fitz has produced with the publishing house Beam Editions, which operates alongside the gallery. The book is entitled When Seams Become Audible - Sculpture and Photography 2013–2022 , which presents her work from over that time period and explains the process and the ideas and experiments that led her to create the work that is currently on display. 

Industrial materials including plaster, clay, steel, plywood and latex are a key element to her practice. She then puts these types of materials through a process of turning, scraping, baking, cutting and fixing together. This process of creating the art is key to understanding the final outcome of her work. She wants the process to be visible in the product so that we think about what it means to use materials, how we use materials and think about what it means to create. Two sculptures, Catch and Release I & II , really show this process. They are created using plaster that is turned and shaped, and the energy and the tools used to do this are all visible in the outcome. Alongside this work, there are two clay fired slabs with similar processed, architectural forms evident in them. She likes the work to have the imprint of its creation on the surface so that there is a language between process and product. This is a reconnecting with thought on the means of production through a critical lens. This brings up questions about production in modern society and allows the viewer to think critically about what it means to produce and create products or machines. Having the evidence of labour visible in the final piece puts the spotlight on the idea of labour itself and shows evidence of skill and care which makes the viewer want to value the work.

A series of highly precise, architectural-looking drawings really give the exhibition the feeling of being both an art show as well as a study into art. The drawings explore the architectural forms that build the place. This ties this 2D work into her 3D sculptural work which also explores ideas of place and shows the variation in the different techniques and styles Fitz has explored over the years. The book that accompanies the exhibition shows the evolution of her practice, from starting out as a photographer to changing her subjects and techniques dramatically over the years, and her 2D work is evidence of this. 

Her work is hard to define. It has a lot of mystery and is both art as well as a critical commentary on art. In this way, the exhibition is a fascinating one and well worth a visit.

Katharina Fitz: SHAPE–SHIFT is on view at Beam Gallery until Saturday 10 September

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