Senbazuru II
Omani Frei
2018
Artist Statement
An ancient Japanese legend says that the one who folds a thousand cranes out of paper will be granted a wish by the gods. "Senbazuru I" is based on this legend and deals with the theme of hope. In order to understand how someone feels when he folds a thousand cranes, just to get one wish fulfilled, I have drawn a thousand cranes. The "Senbazuru II" series builds on "Senbazuru I" and should show how strong the feeling of hope can become. So strong that you don't stop after 1000 cranes, but to be on the safe side you make 1000 more. The basis for "Senbazuru II" is the geometric pattern that is formed when you unfold a paper crane. I drew this pattern 1000 times on 9 cardboards. For the exhibition I would like to show 5 drawings from this series (each 70 x 70 cm, ink on cardboard).
My sister told me in our childhood about the Japanese Senbazuru legend. Since then I have been fascinated by this story and it has strongly influenced my idea of Japan. In 2018 I included the legend in my work and drew a total of 2000 cranes. 1000 very abstract ones, reduced to lines and 1000 symbolized by a geometric form. Through this intensive, personal confrontation, Japan will always remain inseparably connected to the Senbazuru legend for me. Then. Now. And After.
Artist Bio
Born in Austria, I have lived and work in Dresden since 2013. From 2011 to 2017 I studied performance and video art at the academy of fine art Catanzaro (Italy) and painting and traditional 2D animation at the academy of fine arts Dresden (Germany). During my studies in the class of Prof. Wolfram A. Scheffler I was mainly engaged in hand-drawn animation and finished my diploma with the short film Lepidoptera. Since 2017 I have been a master student of Prof. Carsten Nicolai.