Elisabeth Toubro

ELISABETH TOUBRO

THEORETICAL NARRATIVES

Through complicated forms and unorthodox materials that demand the attention of both the senses and the intellect, Elisabeth Toubro's sculptures recount stories that are concealed at first.

Hair Arabesque 1, 1998

Description
Three sculptures hang from wires in the ceiling. All are composed of a steel skeleton covered with a green fibreglass membrane shaping the sculptures' irregular exterior. The two hair arabesques have protruding wooden letter-like constructions.

About the works
The jade coloured sculptures hang from the ceiling and seem to invite a sensuous experience. Their forms are incongruous and disharmonious. They look fragile and awesome at the same time. The surfaces are alluring, instantly making us want to touch them.

The plainly organic appearance of the sculptures combined with the titles, Cell Arabesque and Hair Arabesque, call forth something alive, undergoing change and development. The amorphous form resembles a growing cluster of cells, in other words a biological structure.
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Toubro's art in general
Elisabeth Toubro is a representative of a sculpture tradition with a complicated philosophical and theoretical foundation. Typically her sculptures and exhibitions are accompanied by theoretical texts testifying to her great interest in French Postmodern theory and philosophy.

With sculptors like Henrik B. Andersen, Morten Stræde, Elle Klarskov Jørgensen and Øivind Nygård she studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts under Professor Hein Heinsen. The group acquired the moniker "the cool sculptors" since their work has a very polished surface and often exhibits a certain reserve.
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Literature
"En konstruktion af en mulig omend løsagtig skulptur" (Elisabeth Toubro og Mikkel Bogh), Frederikshavn, 1991
"Elisabeth Toubro. Værker 1983-2004" (red. Lene Burkard, Elisabeth Toubro), Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense, 2004