anti 2004

Carsten Nicolai's “anti,” is this imposing dark sculpture, with its sharp angles cutting through space, feels like a conversation starter, or maybe more of a conversation stopper, actually. The matte black finish absorbs light, emphasizing the form’s geometry. It’s hard to tell what it's made of, maybe painted wood, or even metal? The facetted surface of the object has a raw, unrefined quality which reminds us of material transformations, the tension between order and chaos, and the kind of brutal simplicity we see in some of Richard Serra’s work. Look at the way the light catches the edges, creating subtle gradations within the blackness. It’s as if the sculpture is both present and absent, a solid form and an optical illusion, which maybe is what Nicolai is going for.