Confronting myself with art I am always reminded that I unlearned how to open my eyes. I unlearn it every time I fall for the tribes and tribulations of everyday living. I am drowning in the pimped-up truths of our times.
Waves of input that overwhelm me uncontrollably.
Lied truth, true lies.
Answers, without questions being asked.
Too many questions nobody will ever be able to answer.
Romantization, Polemization and Irony making love.
The only space where one can find truth and integrity, nothing more and nothing less, is in art. Great art talks to us directly, without hesitation, without wanting to present itself in the most soothing light. With pieces of art there is endless ways you can look at them, endless emotions, endless possibilities of interpretation, of judgement. Nobody will see the same, feel the same, experience the same when looking at the same piece of art.
The Chance to open your eyes again
Oftentimes the artist himself is not able to put his own vision across, to show only his view of the scene. It’s just one channel you can look at an art piece. There is the channel of the artist, there is the channel of the audience, there is the channel of the media.
But in the end, all the different angles and perspectives don’t matter anymore. The art piece develops into a character of its own. The only character we can trust. Does it trust you? That depends on whether you treat art it deserves to be treated. Talk back to it carefully. Don’t just walk by and shrug your shoulders, particularly when you don´t understand it.
That’s often the one which is most likely opening your eyes, carrying you on a path you’ve never been before.Be careful how you criticize it. If you use the wrong tone, it won’t convey it’s meaning, and you will never get the chance to letting it open your eyes again. I recently have made this mistake with Friedrich Kunath’s art practice.
The Layers of Kunath’s work reveal a deeper meaning
I walked into his exhibition “One Day I’ll follow the birds” currently to be seen in Max Hetzler Gallery at Goethe-Straße. It rather repelled me the first time I saw the paintings. When you enter the room, you are directly confronted with a large four parted canvas titled “When Was The First Time, You Realized The Next Time Would Be The Last Time”. There are migratory birds, seals, a mole from a children’s series, snoopy, a howling wolf, parrots as well as a sunset, a moon, palm trees… to put it short, anything you could think of.
I thought that it doesn’t deserve my attention, that it is just modern pieces pretending to be some kind of the next Pieter Breughel. Kunath resembles the Dutch renaissance painter in that both demand the viewer’s gaze through small, sometimes exaggerated depictions and intricate details, while at the same time mocking him. Strolling through the rooms at some point I crossed a border, I was reminded that it is all about being open in order for the paintings to transfer their messages on to me.
First, it’s too much, there is too much colour, too many textures, too much going on without any context, I thought. And then it took my breath away. I was and still am in awe by all the layers from Kunath’s work.
Diese Sonnenuntergangsstimmung…
So many parts spoke back to me, demanding my attention, giving me the opportunity to think about me, us and the world. They catch you from behind. They are deceitful, they only reveal their true voice when you engage more closely with them, when you enter into a closer relationship with them. Telling stories that interweave with your own personal experiences, they simply conquer you. It‘s exactly what Kunath himself elucidates in an interview in Kaput Mag:
„Das ist ja das, womit ich immer spiele in dieser Sonnenuntergangsstimmung: Ich will dich da nur reinkriegen, um dir das dann irgendwie um die Ohren zu hauen.“ (“That’s what I’m always playing with in this sunset mood: I just want to get you into it so that I can somehow smash it in your face.“).
Smashing an excess of things presented without context in our faces. Plus, there is a playlist he put together for the exhibition. And what a playlist that is. Contextless again, but the playlist in itself is a masterpiece.
Does he provoke the feeling of naivety?
The almost surreal mixture of things gives his audience the opportunity to create their own contexts, to think about their own life. For instance, when looking at “I Dreamed It Was A Dream That You Were Gone”. There is this girl, probably – but you never know for certain – the naïve, innocent picture of childhood. At some point you lose this innocence, at some point in your life you are grown up, you see being a child in a different light. Is it a dream or is it a nightmare? What does the dark blue of the sea mean? Why does the hair of the girl suggest that it is windy?
Is he being polemical or is he being compassionate with us? Does he want to provoke the feeling of naivety? Does he want to unify or the opposite? His art flirts with us in a way, you never know what it is aiming at. It’s what you make out of it. His works are two-faced characters, but deeply authentic ones.
The truth unfolds at the second look. There is value in art you don’t appreciate at first glance. There are plenty of questions being asked. With my “At My Age I Need Serenity” for example It shows a pony in front of a coastline, somehow involved in the picture are also an iceberg and a rainbow.
The painting automatically provokes questions: What does Serenity look like? What’s the official definition? What does it mean to us? What does it mean to you? Is it the pony, the coast and everything calm? Or is it a techno party at 3 am in the morning? And does age really make a difference?
I connected with his art, I connected with me
Emotions come when digging deeper. One of the most emotional pieces in the exhibition for me is “It’s An Insight Job”. It visualizes everything one could imagine going on the inside of oneself. It’s dark, it’s foul, it irritates and leaves you frightened with its details. Some figure ironing the copy of itself for example. Scary. A moon wearing sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt sitting in an armchair, smoking. Confusing.
And then there is a window through which we can see the bright outside world. Or is that in reality the inside? We have to look inside in order to understand how we and others function and behave inside and outside. Is that what he wants to tell us? Or is there a slightly ironic undertone because human psyche is such a trend topic nowadays?
Going out to the bright sunlight on a beautiful September day I see a sign on the inside of the courtyard. “Schritt fahren”, it says. “Drive at walking pace”. That’s the only thing I can do after having left the exhibition: gearing down. Friedrich Kunath has an effect which I would compare with the aftermath of therapy. I connected with his art, I connected with me. My eyes are wide open in every sense.
Talk to art carefully, let it open your eyes once again.
Leave a comment.