Some reflections on my work, not a manifesto, on the occasion of the exhibition THE SPACE as part of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK 2021
The overview, the big shot or the revolution have never particularly interested me. From the beginning, the demands for an artistic tabula rasa, for a spectacular new beginning were alien to me, without knowing exactly why. The obvious but completely wrong answer was a sense of lack. Why on earth would anyone want to become an artist if there wasn't the manifesto of a new art burning under their nails, if they didn't want to take the world apart and make it new?
Decades later, I still have no intention of writing manifestos, what's the point. The feeling of lack is still there, but it has changed fundamentally. It refers to the inadequacy of the concepts, which slip, stagger and slide along unreflectively on centuries-old tracks until they get stuck with the next cliché. But what if neither 'either - or' nor 'both and' apply? What if third, fourth or twenty-seven other possibilities are needed? And these twenty-seven possibilities are equally valid, is that indifferent? What if it is necessary to redefine terms each time, to tell different stories? Not because her exuberant imagination carries the artist away - again, such a cliché cliff - but because definitions and story(s) are painfully inadequate.
The absence of clarity is a central concept in my work, which always opposes rash understanding. A painting you can grasp at a glance does not interest me. I'm interested in creating a labyrinthine look, distracting from supposed centers and staggering layers so that ultimately it's impossible to decide what's in front or behind. And besides, what is 'behind', overpainted and invisible, is still there, it is part of the painting. I see my paintings not only as the top layer of paint, on which everything takes place, everything is visible, but as a temporal staggering of layers, which includes what has become invisible. The temporal dimension is important, because the paintings are constantly being reworked, remain unnoticed, are brought out again. It is important not to erase these tracks for the sake of some superficial clarity.
This approach also applies especially to my murals. For a few months now a mural is growing in my studio: it is constantly changing, again and again I add something, change the color mood, the patterns. Like in a garden, there is no final state, it is never finished or unfinished, but a living part of my work.
Studio Wallpainting, March 2021,detail, whole format ca. 1000 x 300 cm
Studio Wallpainting, June 2021, detail, whole format ca. 1000 x 300 cm
Studio Wallpainting, June 2021, detail, whole format ca. 1000 x 300 cm
Studio Wallpainting, September 2021, detail, whole format ca. 1000 x 300 cm
Every painting is a garden, every garden is a painting. In recent years, I have focused on exploring natural structures such as thickets, embankments or overgrown slopes. Interwoven vegetation is a rich source of inspiration. There is no hierarchy, no center, no place has more importance than another. The larger murals are, the closer one can get to this structure, because a fixed viewer standpoint makes no sense if the painterly structure cannot be grasped at a glance. The view appropriate in this situation is a moving view - looking around, walking a few steps, on tiptoe, carefully. No location, no fixating perspective. Proximity, not distance. An essential aspect of these paintings is their immersive character. The term "immersive" derives from the Latin word "immersion," which means to embed, to enter - to "plunge" or "sink" into a virtual world. A virtual world that needs not to be a digital world, but also may be a painting.
For work on murals pattern rollers are particularly suitable, because they were originally made for use on the wall. Of course, you should roll them in neat lines and not as I do, one above the other, in wild tangles and wavy lines. Overlapping layers cancel and complement each other; deep, opaque spaces of color appear. Each roller offers a whole universe of possibilities that have to be explored. I am still fascinated by the unclean repetitions, the faulty repeat, and the richness of crush marks.
Opening | Thursday, September 23, 2021, from 5:00 p.m.
Cocktail | Friday, October 1, 2021, from 5:00 p.m.
We need beauty! We need creativity! Michela Codutti and Hannah Stippl invite to a conversation with participating designers*, of course with sparkling drinks.
Exhibition Duration | September 24 to October 3, 2021
Opening Hours | daily 11:00 - 19:00
Location | puuul Studio, Stolzenthalergasse 6, 1080 Vienna
Program partner*of the Vienna Design Week
Co-organized by Michela Codutti / euroinnovators