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Baroque meets 20th-century pop culture: what links the Apostle Paul with Yoda from ‘Star Wars’? Combining these elements with ornamental friezes, Margret Eicher arranges the head of the green film character and the Baroque sculpture by Juan Alonso de Villabrille y Ron in repeating patterns and layers them on top of one another, creating the impression of a kaleidoscope.
Separated by more than 250 years of cultural history, the two figures initially appear to have no apparent connection. Yet the rhythmic repetition in Eicher’s ‘Copy Collage’ – a technique in which she manually glues copies together to form collages – causes the original meanings and associations of individual elements to recede into the background.
The title ‘Can we age with dignity?’ poses a question that remains relevant to society even almost 30 years after the work was created. Detached from their biblical and cinematic contexts, Master Yoda and the saint are perceived here primarily through the lens of their visible age. Through this unusual juxtaposition and comparison, Eicher critically examines society’s view of ageing and ideals of beauty.