Multimedia artist Dan Carabas combines the physical and digital worlds in his art exhibition METAMORPHIC SCULPTURES.

The artworks in the METAMORPHIC SCULPTURES exhibition are limited to one edition per piece. The printing on wood creates a work that cannot be copied due to the unique grain of the wooden panel. This physical work of art was captured photographically and created as an NFT on a trading platform (known in the trade as minting). The digital NFT and the analog work have the same fine wood grain and can be matched. The NFT thus creates a transparent sales process that confirms ownership and authenticity.

The technology behind NTFs is versatile and offers unprecedented opportunities for artists and art collectors. For Dan Carabas, it is important that his exhibition is also technologically in tune with the current zeitgeist, while at the same time enabling analog art to be experienced in a physical space.

In his exhibition METAMORPHIC SCULPTURES, Dan Carabas deals with the distortion and transformation of the human body. By means of Shibari, a Japanese art of tying and draping fabrics, Carabas creates a paradox: while the ropes restrict the movements of the human body, it is the ropes that give the fabric its own dynamism and three-dimensionality. By deliberately altering the body, the sculptures become dehumanized and appear to the viewer in a trance-like state. This process was captured in photographs as a physical work of art printed on wood, and the random grain of the wood gives each final work its uniqueness.

In addition to the physical artworks, the METAMORPHS* – large scale digital NFT artworks will be on display. While the physical artworks capture the actual and final moment of transformation, the digital animations illustrate the process of transformation in an abstract and dynamic way. Again, Carabas makes use of a certain randomness in the final work, using state-of-the-art software to generate a computerized abstraction.

The physical works hang in the middle of a dark room on the same Shibari ropes that were used for the sculptures. A sound emanates from each artwork, and these sounds merge in space to create an abstract, meditative symphony composed by sound artist Peter Hayo.

When: October 27, 2022 at 5pm

Location: Kühlhaus, Luckenwalder Straße 3, 10963 Berlin

Dan Carabas was born in Romania and moved with his family to Germany during the 1989 revolution. He found his way to photography at the early age of 14 through an old analog camera owned by his father. In 2008, he started his career as a fashion and beauty photographer in Paris, honing his unique style characterized by a high-end aesthetic. He moved to Berlin in 2016, where he further developed this style in the fields of film and multimedia art. 

Over the course of his 15-year career, he has photographed countless editorials for international magazines such as VOGUE, GQ, HARPER'S BAZAAR and ELLE. In addition, he shot campaigns and commercials for brands such as GIORGIO ARMANI, RALPH LAUREN, MERCEDES-BENZ, LOUIS VUITTON, THE BODY SHOP, UNIVERSAL MUSIC and more.

His fine art works have been exhibited at the KUNSTHALLE WIEN and the ESSL Museum, among others. Followed by solo exhibitions at GALERIE DURET in Paris and Brussels. Furthermore, his works were presented in the book series BLICKFANG - Germany’s best photographers.