The edition "fluky flora" (version Pinakothek der Moderne), 2022 is an edition in 2 variants consisting of 50 and 100 flowers respectively and is available in a limited edition of 8 copies each:
Edition I. Group of 50 flowers à 2.100 €
Edition II. Group of 100 flowers à 4.200 €
Enquiries are possible through Contact and
info@olgagolos.com
29 November 2022 – 8 January 2023
It appears as though Southern spring winds had carried a sea of flowers into the Pinakothek der Moderne. In the middle of Munich winter, this light pink bounty in our rotunda is like nature’s promise that spring will return.
In her airy floor sculpture fluky flora, young Munich sculptor Olga Golos (*1987 Krasnoyarsk, Russia) questions our search for happiness – everlasting happiness being an ancient, never-stilled desire of humanity.
As much as we try, happiness – much like this whirl of blossoms – can neither be preserved nor controlled. It remains elusive. Since ancient times, we have invented talismans and rituals hoping they would improve our fate. Serving this purpose were often things in nature, which deviated from the norm, and which, on account of their singularity, seemed to be destined to advance our search for happiness. One example is the much sought-after four-leaf clover that in Western culture is considered a token of good luck and that, in the shape of auspicious emojis, has become an indispensable element of our modern tech-devoted messenger apps and social media.
In Russia and some Eastern European countries, however, it is lilac blossoms with five instead of four petals that are considered harbingers of good luck. In springtime, nature hardly leaves anyone cold with the strong scents of these dense blossoms, whose colors range from dark lilac to bright white. Through mutation, deviations from the biological blueprint occur making some blossoms generate five petals. According to Russian folklore, good luck will follow those all day who find such a blossom and eat it.
Remarkably, according to this custom it is precisely the deviation from the rule that is considered a sign of good luck rather than a bad omen. Olga Golos was moved by this positive assessment of a phenomenon departing from the norm, to transform the folkloristic custom from her former home-country into an overwhelming sculpture that grants us a rush of happiness. Only from a distance and following our spontaneous enthusiasm for her playful lottery of happiness which made us search for a five-leaf lilac blossom, do we start to wonder: How susceptible are we, having discarded reason, to making decisions as long as they promise happiness or success? In contrast to their extreme scarcity in nature, this installation offers many five-leaf lucky blossoms making our decision – should we give in to this irrational and superstitious game or question our instinctive behavior? – not an easy one.
In the past year, globally pertinent occurrences have existentially challenged what we knew and believed. Without having anticipated this, our Rotunda Project 2022 | Part IV fluky flora was also affected by this development. The playful artistic critique of human irrationality inherent in this work seems uncannily topical in light of the current political situation in Eastern Europe. Beyond lucky charms we are left with the hope that reason, like this sea of blossoms, will regain ground.
Wishing you happy holidays and a peaceful new year,
Michael Hering
Director, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München
Learn more about further exhibitions of the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München
Olga Golos is a conceptual visual artist mainly focused on series of sculptures and installations often in reference to boundary and transition experiences, including the border of human-shaped and natural landscape. Olga is interested in what constitutes personality - how a person can simultaneously be an individual and part of a collective. Her works are a study in modularity and the relationships that a repeated form can create. For her, materials are deceptive. Glass masquerades as ceramic, metal imagines itself to be paper, and plaster becomes whatever it wants to be. Her interest in materials is not limited to their aesthetical qualities; it is also revealed in investigation of working methods and historical imprint. That is also why, touching on topics like sensitivity or vulnerability, she often employs heavy materials like steel that require physically demanding processes to be shaped.
Olga Golos’ work has been exhibited throughout Germany and internationally with exhibitions at Galerie der Künstler, Munich (2019-22); Carlshütte, Büdelsdorf (2021); public space of Lindau (2022), Stockholm (2022) and Eresing (2021). She is regularly invited to develop her artistic practice in international residencies, with recent projects completed in Austria, Germany, Korea and the USA. Golos was awarded the Debutante Award in Munich (2018) and Gilbert Bayes Award in London (2021).
Olga Golos lives and works in Munich, Germany.
Two individual catalogs have been published for the artist's earlier projects. During the exhibition times both books are available at the museum shop of the Pinakothek der Moderne.
published by Olga Golos,
with text by Sarah Sigmund
published by EOS Editions Sankt Ottilien,
with texts by Barbara Dabanoğlu,
Ruprecht Volz und Cyrill Schäfer
