ARTPYRE: FAWN KRIEGER—THE CIVICS OF METAPHYSICS
In her first solo show in 2010 at Soloway Gallery, New York-based artist Fawn Krieger presented several utilitarian-scale objects made of clay that resembled artifacts. The show’s title —Ruin Value— refers to a concept originating with Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s reveries on the ”state of nature.” The idea was then borrowed by Albert Speer, (Adolph Hitler’s architect) who developed the theory that mimicking the ruins of classical antiquity would leave behind aesthetically-pleasing ruins via his architecture. He used this approach for planning the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where it was hoped that his “pre-ruined” architecture would glorify the German national public image. It was a ready-made historicizing for a modern-day society.…
