Tackling nature

Tackling nature is a professionally developed, handmade art series in the artistic technique Frottage by artist Martina Schall. The series focuses on the sensual experience of nature and can be described as an osmotic process.

Using a finely tuned recipe of pigments and binder, Wenzhou paper is prepared to be tear-resistant for the terry process and the object is terried on situ with light-fast pigments. The components are carefully selected for organic, sustainable and certified ingredients. The terry is built up in several layers of pigments and finished with a light-fast, rub-resistant varnish.

The artistic technique Frottage (French frotter “rub”) is the rubbing off of the original environment – a monotype copying process, rather rarely practised today, that emerged as a distinct art genre during the Ming Dynasty in East Asia and was discovered in the 1930s by Dadaists such as Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró.

I have further developed and refined the artistic technique, harmonized it and adapted it to the local environment. This unique artistic technique is able to depict real proportions and visualize the aesthetics of the tangible real. The result is works of distinctive visual form that combine real and creative elements as an invitation to spatially grasp essential areas of life.

The tackling nature series consists of approx. 60 individual works in the sizes 97 x 170 cm, 80 x 96 cm, 57 x 68 cm, 49 x 72 cm, 49 x 49 cm, 21 x 23 cm and is constantly being expanded. The production process takes several weeks of preparation and work. Each artwork is unique, dated and signed by hand.