Initially Werner Haypeter’s art appears to be a straightforward geometric use of industrial material. Small metal beams, layered resin reliefs and PVC sheets are placed in simple arrangements that seem to create a sense of manufactured symmetry. This illusion is however altered by Haypeter’s artistic intervention. Bands of Haypeter’s hallmark muted yellow acrylic are placed off centre or are misaligned from their expected systems. Similarly marks and blemishes in the finish remind us that these works are in fact made by hand – the artist’s touch enhances rather than diminishes the apparant machine made appearance.
This exhibition is Haypeter’s second one-man show at Annely Juda Fine Art. It begins with a series of spectacular new large “drawings” almost 2 metres in length. Each comprises elegantly folded, creased and torn paper with occasional black watercolour panels which are part concealed, part revealed. These works provide an interesting insight into Haypeter’s use of material – the manipulation of the paper reflect his use of resin, steel and PVC used to highlight our response to process. They invite us to investigate his procedure – like a minimal form of origami.
In a further development the exhibition also includes a series of new wall sculptures in which bands of fluorescent paint have been placed through layers of semi-transparent resin. Haypeter has introduced another new and subtle dimension. The paint will glow softly in twilight and brightly in the dark – and it will also glow faintly or intensely according to its depth within the resin. As with the folded paper pieces Haypeter uses the relative effects of opacity and transparency giving a pronounced three-dimensional feel to two-dimensional planes.
Haypeter’s work unites the aesthetic of mass production with the geometric concerns and theories of Modernism.
