Osmar Osten: Oben-Mit

The 3.60 metre high sculpture by Osmar Osten stands on Schillerplatz in Chemnitz. Delicately coloured columns made of natural Saxon stone, such as yellow Posta sandstone, nestled together and playfully complemented by marble steles, form the support for a whole bundle of figures cast in silver-coloured aluminium. Depictions of Erzgebirge nutcrackers, angels and miners as well as incense smokers stand side by side and, in some cases, head to head. The rough seams and moulding ridges deliberately left in their production make the figures appear like mythical spirits that spread out before the eyes of the beholder. Thus the ‘good spirits my homeland’, as Osten ambiguously expands the title of the group of figures “Oben-Mit”, can be understood both as a loving homage to the Ore Mountains and as a distancing from the tourist and commercial appropriation of local identities. With the clash of contradictions in content and imagery presented in this way, the artist sets in motion an open process of speculation about the meaning of his works.

(Text: Alexander Ochs / Ulrike Pennewitz)