About "sitte&sexus" (english version)

This ecstasy is neither a prey nor a sacrifice nor an act of delivery. Neither sex should let the other devour itself, neither the man nor the woman are meant to appear as fragments of a couple. The sex is not a wound. Each is an entirety in it’s variety, a complete, accomplished, being. If the one is confident in his masculinity and the other in her femininity, both will succeed in completing the circle of sexes.

Simone de Beauvoir to D. H. Lawrence

Or the phallic pride

Anaximander present working cycle is inspired by Simone de Beauvoir’s book “The Second Sex – behaviour and sex of the woman”. A book against the penis envy, against the countless psychoanalytic attempts to present a woman as a mutilated. man. It is a book that seeks more then just to explain the woman herself. It is a universal definition of a woman as a sexual being in the context of her position in society - a woman who breaks free from her dependence upon the predominant patriarchal system. Anaximander said "there are some books that follow us throughout our life. This book for me is such a book. The first time I read it I was 21 years old and way back then, the contour of a concrete figure, “Sitte”, began to emerge. I chose not to follow that path any further at the time because my art developed in another direction – towards abstract painting". During that period she found it interesting to think about the “Sitte” figure, but not to actually paint or draw her. It wasn’t until the end of ’99 that she returned to this subject. Only then did anaximander succeed in freeing herself from de Beauvoirs’ concrete statements, and in getting closer to elaboration, from elements ofher own imagination. Also another idea formed - the idea of the two words of device. It gave the two poles of the same, contradictory and tense relation within a woman herself : “Sitte and Sexus” a concrete shape. Anaximander chose a lobster as a concrete visual presentation for “Sexus”. She said "It’s a form that contains a lot that is erotic, but also encompasses other visual metaphors", for example, playing and power. The lobster represents a substantial phallic symbol, more explicit then all the Maserati or Ferrari cars put together. More revealing then many other symbols that technologically crazed (mostly men) might choose instead. "I love the form and the colour of the lobster; same with some men…

And by the way, I like to eat lobster too! Sitte” is, as well other also important things, a lustful and sexual being". That’s why her “Sitte” is feminine and naked too.

Other facets are to be found in so called specifically “feminine” characteristics (especially in ‘new age’ philosophies) : primeval mother, female spouse, nurse... "as if we weren’t all that before" even without the ‘esoteric’ explanation. moreso they are to be found in concrete, multi-dimensional characteristics of a human being, that are not just individually developed but also carry the sign of our society.

What is essential to the figure of “Sitte” is not the moral in the traditional sense (a concept that was abused for centuries, misappropriated into an idea of “normal” by church or society); Essentially it is the idea of the kind of ethic which grew out of humanism. In case this ethic is really meant to have something to do with real life, no area of life should be left out, especially the one occupied with sensual and sexual experiences. From the artistic point of view, her aim is to make the tense relationship between “Sitte and Sexus” look transparent. During that process, they are becoming connected, separated, united and confronted.Anaximanders mind is as open as ever before when it comes to how much of their newly found shape will get transformed, singled out and individualised.

That is why anaximander considers the pictures shown here to be a demonstration of a process in motion; nothing is completed, nothing is finished. Anaximander means "Michael Mäde’s texts that accompany pictures represent the extreme, a contradiction that contains the sort of elements I find are thoroughly connected".

Because here, along with the human point of view, the masculine point of view shines through. It seems to her that some of the texts are in waiting for the adequate pictures to be created, to accompany them. "Some pictures might never be created. But even that can be seen as a happening". At least temporarily.

Michael Mäde im Mai 1999

Translation / Übersetzung: Nataly Murray & Caroline J. McElwee