Installation view: Lena Marie Emrich, ‘Secure Destruction you can trust’, March 11 — April 15, 2023, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Things got out of hands I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, 71 × 89 × 4 cm

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Things got out of hands I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, 71 × 89 × 4 cm (Detail)

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Things got out of hands I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, 71 × 89 × 4 cm (Closed)

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Wishing well (Bootes)', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Plexiglas, Mirror foil, Coins, Pendant: Brass, 102 × 46 cm

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Wishing well (Bootes)', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Plexiglas, Mirror foil, Coins, Pendant: Brass, 102 × 46 cm (Detail)

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Wishing well (Bootes)', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Plexiglas, Mirror foil, Coins, Pendant: Brass, 102 × 46 cm (Detail)

Installation view: Lena Marie Emrich, ‘Secure Destruction you can trust’, March 11 — April 15, 2023, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Three witches I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, 42 × 42 × 4 cm

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Three witches I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, 42 × 42 × 4 cm (Detail)

Installation view: Lena Marie Emrich, ‘Secure Destruction you can trust’, March 11 — April 15, 2023, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig

Installation view: Lena Marie Emrich, ‘Secure Destruction you can trust’, March 11 — April 15, 2023, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig

Installation view: Lena Marie Emrich, ‘Secure Destruction you can trust’, March 11 — April 15, 2023, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Wishing well (Spiral)', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Plexiglas, Mirror foil, 38 × 82 × 38 cm

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Wishing well (Spiral)', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Plexiglas, Mirror foil, 38 × 82 × 38 cm

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Wishing well (Spiral)', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Plexiglas, Mirror foil, 38 × 82 × 38 cm (Detail)

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Gossiping orchids I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, 56 × 40 × 4 cm

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Gossiping orchids I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, 56 × 40 × 4 cm (Detail)

Installation view: Lena Marie Emrich, ‘Secure Destruction you can trust’, March 11 — April 15, 2023, Galerie Tobias Naehring, Leipzig

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Gossip Chair No. 2', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Chrome tubes, 72 × 140 × 76 cm

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Gossip Chair No. 2', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Chrome tubes, 72 × 140 × 76 cm

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Secure destruction you can trust I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, Pendant: Brass, 48 × 72 × 4 cm (Pendant: 11 × 7 cm)

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Secure destruction you can trust I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, Pendant: Brass, 48 × 72 × 4 cm (Pendant: 11 × 7 cm) (Detail)

Lena Marie Emrich, 'Secure destruction you can trust I', 2023, Natural Acrylic Stone, Wild service tree, Pendant: Brass, 48 × 72 × 4 cm (Pendant: 11 × 7 cm) (Detail)

« … the world is growing and it has to be changed. All one has to do is alter one’s way of viewing it.» *

Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan, designed by Piero Portaluppi, is one of the most astonishing modernist buildings. The structure is simple, cubic volumes meet clean lines. The surface of the ground floor is covered with natural stone slabs as if it were a sarcophagus. The famous building, which was also immortalized in a film, stands for both New Building and the Fascist era in Italy, which produced outstanding architecture. The cool elegance of the villa, the chalky tones of the facade behave like a flashback to the new works by Lena Marie Emrich. They are panel paintings that have the same tonality as the famous villa, and perhaps reach back much further into cultural history: Petrified representations, ancient reliefs, friezes, representations of people, gods as known from the Parthenon Frieze, a band of reliefs decorating the upper part of the outer walls of the famous temple, created by the Greek sculptor Phidias and his assistants. The depiction shows a variety of figures, including gods, goddesses, humans and animals. The depiction is particularly notable for its use of perspective and its refined compositional techniques.

Lena Marie Emrich uses natural acrylic stone, a material that resembles marble but is synthetically produced. It is mainly used for high-end kitchens. As in marquetry, the individual acrylic stone pieces are inlaid and create figures and images. They have the shape of altarpieces. As a three-part relief, they are reminiscent of triptychs like those found in churches and chapels. They depict situations that seem surreal, possibly stemming from a dream or fantasy (we also encounter the Villa Necchi in the background). A woman is immersed in a yoga position, her hair curling and flowing into a decorative line. We witness a petrified world from which all volatility escapes. A counter-design to the fluidity of digital screens, although designed on the computer, cut out by CNC mills. Here everything is (supposedly) set in stone. Time stands still. The banality of everyday life has found its monument. The ordinary becomes the exemplary. This view changes our perspective on our environment. The finiteness of our existence is manifested. For the world grows even without us.

Gianni Jetzer, 2023

* Shai Kulbekian in the film I am Love (2009), set in Villa Necchi