Harry Schumacher denounces the way humanity treats nature. We place ourselves above, although we are part of it. We see nature as a laboratory for our benefit. Harry creates a world of works of art to increase our engagement with nature. In the works a representation of human characteristics gets us involved. Separate works zoom into an aspect of our attitude towards nature, but the collection of works forms the whole picture, like an alternative world. Harry Schumacher exhibits in museums, galleries and theme exhibitions all over the world.
Corset - In the work “Corset” the natural shape of the cone as half an hourglass is manipulated by the metal box. The metal box is an autoclave, used in hospitals to disinfect and clean medical instruments. It influences the sand but is also kept in place by the sand. All the sand found it’s way through the autoclave. It comes out in the four corners on the bottom and when it joins the sand of other corners a “scar” is created which finds it’s way to the bottom of the cone. The history of the sand becomes visible. The performance is a metaphor for nature staying in motion. The sand at the bottom is collected and put back into the autoclave. One round at the bottom and putting the sand back in the box is one cycle of the performance which is repeated over and over. When the sand is collected at the bottom it seems that the sand moves up instead of falling down, against the force of gravity.
Descending - Descending (Triptych), Oil on Panel, hxwxd = 3 x 120 x 80 x 6 cm. hxw total = 120 x 300 cm. This triptych shows descending in three stages . The first one is the middle, then the right one and finally the left one. A journey from the endless potential of a deity to the reality of living like a marionet. The cross changes in meaning by changing it’s position and the strings are pulled tighter. A sequence of unrealistic muscle volumes are indicated but not explained in a legend as a protest against a ratio dominated world. You should live like you have the ability of a god, in practice it does not happen often enough.
Awareness - Research how tough can become vulnerable, how the meaning can change by orientation.
How just orientation can influence the way we look at things.
A Sphere Is Just An Egg Not Afraid To Fall - “A Sphere Is Just An Egg Not Afraid To Fall” is about the balance between a sphere and an egg. The egg represents the “reproduction” and the sphere the strive for perfection. The work combines the basic principles of evolution.
Against All Odds - For the sculpture garden Ravesteyn a site specific work has been made. In memory of all the perished refugees at see a work about the dangerous journey. For a lot of people it is not a choice, but a way of survival. The work exists of a small boat with a proportional huge figurehead to enforce a save journey. No woodcarving but an original tree to hold on to life itself. The boat is connected with the tree by bandages, with fists as a variation on the Hamsa (protection) with Nazar (evil eye). The Hamsa are not suited for the weather influences and will drown.
Arctic - We use nature as a laboratory which gives us the right to do with it what we want. For an old butcher shop in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, I made a site-specific artwork installation dealing with a specific event. The event is the economical fight for the arctic in the search for oil. A struggle for the preservation of the arctic itself should be a lot more meaningful. The event got in the news when people of Greenpeace were held as hostages by the Russian Federation. The news was no longer about the damage done to the arctic, and so to nature worldwide. Attention needed to go back to the original problem, so I made this installation to pick up the initial debate. There was a lectures by Greenpeace and it got quite a lot of publicity.
The installation: A drilling platform made out of laboratory equipment is placed on a pile of ice. For several weeks the work is shown with blocks of ice as "Arctic". The blocks are refreshed every week. In the shower tray the water mixes with an oily substance. The steel rod in the middle of the iceblocks has influence on the ice by creating "needles" because it's conducting the cold. A floor drain gets rid of the water.
After a few weeks the blocks were no longer refreshed and when the ice melted for the last time the work got the title "Memory of the Arctic", a prophecy that could come true. A photoshoot over time got the same title, and so the pictures were all that was left of the original artwork. In the same way that if we do not radically change our way of thinking about the exploitation of nature, in a short while there will also be only a memory left
Chain - Mixed Media on Felt in Lead, lxw = 44 x 18 cm.
Space and Time - An organism, just existing of two legs and wearing a diaper is tied to the wall to limit it’s space. The part of the wall it can reach in width is covered in drawings of bodyparts the organism lacks, as a wishful dream in growth. Apart from the limitation in movement the rope also keeps the creature in balance, almost learning it to walk. Worldwide a lot of people have to deal with just the “right” amount of oppression to keep them barely alive, but silent. The row of drawings on the wall will change over time because of the acid-rich paper.
Autumn Leaves - This work for the entrance of a crematorium forms a bond with the tree reaching through the roof. The tree as a metaphor for life, the reaching is the life fully lived. The memory forms the bond we keep with the deceased The circle of leaves around the tree are the nearest loved ones on whom the deceased made his/hers mark, the blown off leaves represent the wider ambit that has been moved.
Defence - The work "Defence" exists of vertebras forming a closed circle. It is the evolution of the human spine into a non-flexible backbone. It should be inevitable if the human race continues in the direction it is going. What kind of creature could live with this kind of spine is left to the imagination. It could be the last configuration before extinction.
