SIBYLLE TRAFOIER • LAVINIA LANNER • CHRISTIAN BAZANT-HEGEMARK • JEREMIAS ALTMANN
We are happy to announce the opening of “Under Cover“, a group exhibition at gallery twenty-six, showcasing paintings and drawings by Sibylle Trafoier, Lavinia Lanner, Christian Bazant-Hegemark and Jeremias Altmann, delivering what its first impression promises:
these works of art evade provocatively toying with any kind of cumbersome, perfunctory subversion – on the contrary, they are captivating due to their powerful presence, their vigorous, vivid energy beyond the pictorial space.
However, what really constitutes the unique substantial feature of this group exhibition, its artists and their work is the particular fascination, the special allure of gradually uncovering, unveiling, exposing of what is still lurking within the complex visual layerings, waiting to be discovered.
All four of them pull away the blanket, underneath which the beholders might have preferred to get cosy, each of them in their very own artistic manner acting like an undercover agent, investigating insidiously but relentlessly in order to get to the bottom of things. Four artistic personalities are in cahoots together, consistently striving to undermine apparent plausibilities, to deal with the sterility of a pseudo-serene, ubiquitous flood of data and images by artistic means in a confrontational manner, to create new room for imagination, fascination, inspiration and opportunities.
Sibylle Trafoier‘s series „The Other Light“ makes things definitely appear in a new light: her pictrorial language is utterly direct, immediate and unrelenting. What‘s supposedly well packed and buried deep inside the minds and bodies of the beholders almost imperceptibly escapes to the surface, is brought to the fore, promoting the awareness of it.
Cleverly playing with ascriptions and graphic effects reminiscent of the trompe l’oeil technique, Lavinia Lanner opens the eyes of the beholders in a quite subtle, yet exceedingly effective way to the incredibly high extent to which we are all prisoners: on the one hand, it is our own perception apparatus – more precisely its physical and psychological capabilities and constraints – and on the other hand it‘s language itself (according to Wittgenstein) that we are held hostage by. How is it even possible to accurately classify, name, or even perceive – recognize- something – or anything?
Jeremias Altmann quite literally reveals, that faced with technological advances, we may find ourselves confused and at a loss trying to deal with the internal workings of every day devices, regardless of their indisputable use and undeniable aesthetic appeal, conceivably even experiencing feelings ranging from being overwhelmed, to anxiety, helplessness, or resignation – or a sense of amazement, inspiring wonder and admiration.
With pinpoint accuracy Christian Bazant-Hegemark works between the analogous and the digital, touching on two major taboo subjects: error and trauma. What does exactly happen while it happens? What happens afterwards? What happens after the aftermath? How do you really deal constructively with distortion and failure?
