Matthias Schaufler
11 Apr - 02 Aug 2014
MATTHIAS SCHAUFLER
oil painting
11 April – 2 August 2014
In his fourth solo exhibition at Galerie Friedlaender, Matthias Schaufler is exhibiting a new body of work that furthers his ongoing, methodic probing of the medium. His perspicacious approach to painting is such that with each new series, he purposely alters his own work method. He thus challenges, time and again, the techniques available to him as a painter, intentionally confronting its fundamental limits in order to uncover new possibilities. This approach to methodology recalls the French literary movement of OULIPO, (Ouvroir de literature potentielle; roughly translated as workshop of potential literature) that sought to find creative potential by means of introducing constraints. Once a specific conscription or a certain negation cease to offer any productive potential, Schaufler introduces a different rule – this method becomes formally evident when considering the different phases apparent throughout his overall oeuvre.
The new series of works is more centrally driven by method than earlier ones, while narrative–should it indeed exist—serves to intensify a sentiment or evoke a memory. Here, Schaufler challenges the conventions of “beauty” in painting, and re-introduces griminess and unprettiness to the canvas. He carves out a realm for tension to arise, and where the paintings can teeter on the verge of subversion. Can the restraints also resolve ugliness back into beauty?
While all were made using the same method, the six paintings differ from each other significantly, with some works appearing intensely emotive and others, such as the large-scale painting “Mural”, more meandering in movement. The work entitled “Method Painting” is the busiest in terms of the layers, techniques, splatters and colors used. Here, the inherent potential has been taken to its limits and subsequently fulfilled. The work’s title can hence be read as a wink at his own continuous confrontation with the medium of painting: having exhausted the possibilities of one method, he must now start anew.
Text/Text: Hili Perlson
Übersetzung/Translation: Ralph Schauff
oil painting
11 April – 2 August 2014
In his fourth solo exhibition at Galerie Friedlaender, Matthias Schaufler is exhibiting a new body of work that furthers his ongoing, methodic probing of the medium. His perspicacious approach to painting is such that with each new series, he purposely alters his own work method. He thus challenges, time and again, the techniques available to him as a painter, intentionally confronting its fundamental limits in order to uncover new possibilities. This approach to methodology recalls the French literary movement of OULIPO, (Ouvroir de literature potentielle; roughly translated as workshop of potential literature) that sought to find creative potential by means of introducing constraints. Once a specific conscription or a certain negation cease to offer any productive potential, Schaufler introduces a different rule – this method becomes formally evident when considering the different phases apparent throughout his overall oeuvre.
The new series of works is more centrally driven by method than earlier ones, while narrative–should it indeed exist—serves to intensify a sentiment or evoke a memory. Here, Schaufler challenges the conventions of “beauty” in painting, and re-introduces griminess and unprettiness to the canvas. He carves out a realm for tension to arise, and where the paintings can teeter on the verge of subversion. Can the restraints also resolve ugliness back into beauty?
While all were made using the same method, the six paintings differ from each other significantly, with some works appearing intensely emotive and others, such as the large-scale painting “Mural”, more meandering in movement. The work entitled “Method Painting” is the busiest in terms of the layers, techniques, splatters and colors used. Here, the inherent potential has been taken to its limits and subsequently fulfilled. The work’s title can hence be read as a wink at his own continuous confrontation with the medium of painting: having exhausted the possibilities of one method, he must now start anew.
Text/Text: Hili Perlson
Übersetzung/Translation: Ralph Schauff