Heim on the Range / Interview with Sabin Aell
Your art gallery, Hinterland, is moving from Denver to a barn in the Rocky foothills, which seems fitting to its name. Congratulations. Years ago, you moved from a design career in Frankfurt, to resume working with your hands in Colorado. Do you feel yourself moving further toward wild land as a natural progression of aging’s solitude?
The landscape in Colorado fits my inner world very well. I love hikes with my dog right out of our front door. What I like about our new location is that we have land around us which gives us more freedom to eventually live more sustainable and closer to nature.
For me the forms I use actually are a natural fit as they come together organically.The forms I compose align very well with my vital and visual sense of being but that might vary wildly among the different viewers. The forms invite you to a dance with your mind and spirit. They might inspire you to find your own alignment within or not.
My life overall has not been dramatic, no unusual death in the family or other traumatic experiences. I usually create my work from a place of enchanted excitement. That is at least my intention.
You intersect forms that were not meant to co-exist. Their fit is not always natural, and therefore may leave some connections unresolved?
“I once drilled into my fingernail.”
Decades ago, I worked on an abstract series of assemblages, that were reactions to seeing my dying grandfather’s pale hollow chest heaving as he drown in his own fluids. Does your work have concealed references of content that you are willing to discuss?
I am not worried about chemicals. I typically use all required safety precautions – ventilation,respirator, etc.
How often do you hurt yourself in making? What was the worst injury? Have you worried about exposure to chemicals?
