Lou Baltasar

Lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany

Artist statement

My work looks at systems, patterns, and order. I am interested in the structures we move through every day: architecture, bureaucracy, language, institutions, and forms of communication. I look at the small moments when those structures become confusing, contradictory, or impossible to follow. I often begin with something that already has a set of rules: a letter, a conversation, a bureaucratic form, a spatial structure, or the conventions of sculpture. Rather than working against these systems, I work from within them. I repeat, translate, fold, fragment, distort, or shift them until something begins to change. What initially appears fixed can become unstable, and what seems meaningless or dysfunctional can open up new possibilities. Material is important to me because it can make these contradictions tangible. A crumpled rejection letter can become a bronze object, turning a temporary and discouraging document into something heavy and permanent. A modular sculpture can be constantly rearranged rather than settling into one final form. A conversation can move between languages, exposing not only what can be communicated but also what gets lost, misunderstood, or left unresolved. I am interested in these moments of uncertainty. They can be frustrating, but they can also be productive. When a system no longer works exactly as it should, we have to negotiate, improvise, or find another way. My works create situations in which this instability becomes visible, and where...

Artwork