GASPARE OTTO MELCHER

Transcription

1 GASPARE OTTO MELCHER COMPOSITIONAL STUDIES of ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MOTIFS, MATERIAL on the HIEROGLYPH MR Vada and Cairo, August September, 2014

2 Quadrato magico, collage on canvas, 95 x 95 cm., 2000 As an artist I have been working with ideograms since After an initial analysis, I employ them as visual, geometric scaffolding and derive inspiration from them. I have always been aware of the relationship between ideograms and ancient ideographic script, and this was a major driving factor behind my first stay in Egypt (February July, 2006). In order to understand how ancient Egyptian painters proceeded with their work, I began to undertake compositional studies of various motifs, in order to better understand their iconography and the possible use of geometric concepts by the artists.

3 All of these studies are collected in the work Ägyptisches Tagebuch (translated as Egyptian Diaries ), 110 pp., 30 x 42 cm., pencil, colored pencil and felt-tip pen with collage and tempera ink (private collection), Cairo, 2006.

4 The alarming degree of overlap between the visual motifs and the geometric concepts that were employed struck me as anything other than a coincidence and led me to believe that the artists of the era made use of ancient geometry (or, holy geometry ).

5 After returning from Cairo, I also investigated visual motifs from the Renaissance, knowing that a few fresco artists, like their ancient Egyptian counterparts, engaged in the practice of transferring sketches on paper to a wall using a quadratic grid. Detail of Ramosis tomb, Deir el-medina, Luxor Giordano Bruno and Leonardo da Vinci, for example, were known to me to be familiar with this technique. The evolution of the geometric concepts through the years became the focus of my graphic work Diario Toscano (translated as Tuscan Diary ), which was published in 2010 in Chur (CH). GASPARE O. MELCHER, Diario Toscano, 2010, 18 pigment prints, 45 x 58 cm. each, print 9/9, Galerie Luciano Fasciati, Chur (CH).

6 La scuola di Atene ( The school of Athens ), Raffael, in the Stanza della Segnatura at the Vatican Illustration by Jakob Böhme ( )

7 In the course of my stay in Egypt in 2006, I discovered two motifs that have interested me since: first, a representation of three agricultural workers at the tomb of Ty in Saqqara and, second, the slightly faded, large-format portrayal of the Pharaoh with the goddess Min at the Medina Habu Temple in Luxor. The overlap between geometric concepts and visual motifs in both cases is striking.

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11 Wooden model of an agricultural worker, 29 cm. high, Dynasty VI, Egyptian Museum, Cairo After realizing in 2006 how often ancient Egyptian murals, scriptures and monuments were determined by an exact, traceable, geometric structure, I began to wonder whether there were any geometrically derived hieroglyphs or characters. Based on casual observation, I am only aware of one hieroglyph, the hoe (MR), which might pertain. The following three examples lead me to believe that the tool portrayed might not actually be a hoe, but rather a compass. I am not aware of any other hieroglyphs that are based in geometry, but I believe that they must exist. This spring I re-analyzed a few of my constructional studies from that time and documented them in sequences, in order to clearly illustrate my methods.

12 4-part sequence from the analysis of "Inschrift Saqqara" ( Saqqara Engravings ), July, 2014, Gaspare O. Melc

13 6-part sequence from the analysis of "Three Agricultural Workers", July, 2014, Gaspare O. Melcher Could these workers be interpreted as land surveyors, who were tasked with taking measurements after the Nile floods subsided each year?

14 6-part sequence from the analysis of Pharaoh with a Compass in Front of Min", July, 2014, Gaspare O. Melcher I found this representation at the grounds of the Medina Habu Temple. I was astonished and intrigued by it, because I do not believe the object in the hand of the Pharaoh could be a hoe.

15 Fragment of a Libyan Palette, Abydos, 3000 B.C., Egyptian Museum in Cairo The images depicted on this fragment of Libyan palette are presented in the guide to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (published by White Star) as hinting at planned city development, in which case the compass could very well symbolize construction. From pyramid writings, B.C. The commentary in the guide treats the depictions in the pyramid writings as a creation story.

16 Looking at engravings, I have often come across motifs like those below containing the hoe/compass object. Here are a few examples from my archives: During my residency from August, 2014 to January, 2015, I will be searching for more iconographic material containing the hieroglyph MR.

17 I also plan to carry out further compositional studies. The only requirement is that images be photographed straight on without any distortion of the visual motifs. Building on the compositional studies presented here, I am seeking collaboration with artists who may be interested in co-producing a film or artistic brochure within this field of investigation. I am also interested in coming into contact with Egyptologists who can provide any related explanations or positions or point me toward possible exhibitions. Around 30 works from the Ägyptisches Tagebuch have already been exhibited at the HORIZON ONE GALLERY at the Mohamed M. Kalil Museum in Cairo in 2008 (exhibition catalogue: Nether Matrix, with written contributions from Dr. B. Stutzer and A. Fontana (published by edescha art, Chur) and later in the gallery Hotel de Ville, Yverdon ( Collection Luc and Jaqueline Robert ). In October, 2015 a few of the pieces from will be exhibited in Chur together with drawings from my current endeavors.

18 GASPARE OTTO MELCHER was born in 1945 in Chur. After residing in Salzburg, Venice, Sardinia and Tunisia, he moved to Amsterdam in The study of ancient script led him to an investigation of basic ideographic structures. Large-format images resulted, which the artist exhibited in corresponding environments. The ideographic material taken up in works on accumulation and variation forms the basis of his entire oevres. In 1975 he moved to Tuscany. "There, Melcher's painting forged a connection between basic ideographic structures and simple renderings of the human figure. This led to the production of two bodies of work: STEPHEN GRAY ( ) and THEOREMEN ( ). In 1995 the artist came across ideograms that he had been incorporating into his work for years at the site of a UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico (USA), discovered in Inspired by this, he created the body of work THE ROSWELL SYMBOLS ( ), exploring the overlaps between his work and the ruins of the crash. In 2006 the artist was invited to the studios of the KSK (Konferenz Schweizer Städte für Kulturfragen Swiss Cities Conference on Culture) in Cairo. There he studied ancient Egyptian paintings and compiled his investigations into the book ÄGYPTISCHES TAGEBUCH. He later devoted himself to the production of a portfolio of prints called DIARIO TOSCANO (edit. Luciano Fasciati, Chur, 2010). Between 2011 and 2014 he produced a series of large collages paying homage to the artists he admired as a young man. To date the series comprises 14 homages, all of them to artists whom Melcher met in the 1970s or whose work left a strong impression on him. In August, 2014 Melcher began a second six-month residency in Cairo. PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, INFORMATION on EXHIBITS, BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION and OTHER ASPECTS of THE ARTIST S WORK ARE AVAILABLE at: