Der Löwe und die Maus 2019

Curator: Immediately, I notice the tension, almost unbearable—the palpable anxiety radiating from this confined lion. Editor: Indeed, and that anxiety, I believe, stems from a deep-seated cultural fear around entrapment. Let's provide our listeners with some context. The artwork here is entitled *Der Löwe und die Maus* which translates to "The Lion and the Mouse," a 2019 painting by Siegfried Zademack. Curator: The title is apt, I'd say. You’re confronted with this almost photographic rendering of a lion, caught within a delicate net, and there, near its paws, is the figure of a small mouse, about to gnaw through one of the restraints. The message seems quite literal: the powerful being dependent on a vulnerable actor to escape subjugation. The artist invokes a pre-established Aesop’s fable to connect this fantasy to broader cultural wisdom. Editor: Ah yes, Aesop! However, I think its realism is also compelling: Zademack skillfully renders fur, the netting, and the dark background to underscore an interesting relationship between high and low materials. Rope used to restrain such a figure? Remarkable! Curator: That "rope," in a symbolic sense, carries immense weight. Consider its construction: thin, easily breakable strands woven to ensnare raw strength. It is not a physical object so much as it represents systems and constructs that we create to subjugate certain people in certain eras. It’s very Kafkaesque. Editor: From a maker’s standpoint, that is powerful. But what about the work, its artifice, more broadly? Isn't the "photographic rendering," as you call it, also the point? The very artificiality of this studio image—this craftedness—points us towards value creation, the consumption of stories. It shows us how labor makes a world—a fiction for consumption and reflection. Curator: I grant you, the realism has an odd effect: the hyper-realism gives this symbolic tale an aura of the eternal return, that humanity continues to tell and retouch tales of subjugation in the Anthropocene. I think Zademack plays brilliantly with time, mixing an ancient message and making us reflect again. Editor: It all underscores our anxieties about power, creation, and control, doesn't it? Curator: Absolutely. Thanks for pointing out this materialist take to me; it made me think more about the symbolism, in retrospect. Editor: And thanks for opening my eyes to a potentially deeper understanding of its social resonance.