Isa Melsheimer false ruins and lost innocence 1, 2020
Ceramic, plinth
104 x 80,5 x 122 cm (work)
50 x 160 x 110 cm (plinth)
The large-scale ceramic takes as point of departure the so-called Cuckoo Coffee House in Da Nang, Vietnam, an airy building from 2019 designed by a young Vietnamese architectural firm called Tropical Space. Inside the multiple nestled shapes overlooking an enclosed courtyard, a small forest of trees appears to thrive, their trunks richly glazed. The work exemplifies the increasing presence of organic elements in Melsheimer’s ceramic works, reinforced by the artist’s 2017 residency on Fogo Islands, Newfoundland.