Lilies and Objects

Following her 2010 publication dedicated to roses, Cologne-based artist Sabine Moritz here turns her attention to lilies, which she first began depicting in the mid 1990s. Working on paper to produce 59 charcoal, pastel and oil pastel drawings, similarly she often approaches works as studies or exercises in observation and representation.

During the development of this publication, which was originally conceived as a collection of Moritz’s drawings of lilies, the artist had the idea to introduce another ongoing body of work – drawings of objects – alongside the lilies. These objects are primarily statues, statuettes and figurines – hand-made works of art from different periods in history, such as a classical torso, an African figurine, and a Buddhist head.

Moritz’s drawings of objects reflect a range of ideas and registers, moods and sentiments. Including the objects alongside the lilies opens up questions of time, life, death, belief, truth, human psychology and the very process of making art. What drives us to make art and what does it tell us about ourselves and the civilisations we create?