Christian Eisenberger
Dunkle Materie Kalte Gerüchte 9975/14129/30817
27 Apr - 24 May 2017
CHRISTIAN EISENBERGER
Dunkle Materie Kalte Gerüchte 9975/14129/30817
27 April – 24 May 2017
After HIMMEL WEISHEIT WALD 9975/13107/27917, 2014 (Parterre Galerie), Amöbe, 2015 (Krinzinger Projekte), DIE BERGE SCHMIEDEN SOLANGE SIE EISEN ESSEN 9975/13822/27937, 2016 (Showroom), Dunkle Materie Kalte Gerüchte 9975/14129/30817 is Christian Eisenberger’s third solo exhibition at Galerie Krinzinger and is dedicated to his latest series of paintings.
Christian Eisenberger’s painterly oeuvre is in many respects exceptional on many counts, first and foremost conceptually, but also aesthetically. Eisenberger has always considered himself more of an artist than a painter. For quite a long time, he used painting (the supreme creative discipline in the arts) only sporadically, since he harboured such strong reservations towards this genre at the beginning of his career. Yet his handling of colour has always been marked by an amazing confidence. His very early works, among them the widely known, numbered cardboard boxes with portraits of famous figures, already stood out because of his individual style, which is quite remarkable, considering the artist’s young age when he created them. Even if the artist gravitated, in the following years, towards other artistic genres (like street or land art) he never entirely gave up painting, in spite of his completely breaking with it at times.
In this context, his contribution to the exhibition "„Malerei: Prozess und Expansion“ (Painting: Process and Expansion") in 2010 at the mumok deserves mention: Back-to-back with a huge Gerhard Richter painting, Eisenberger glued small canals on the wall, from which yellow paint trickled onto the wall. He simply left the watering can, in which he kept the paint in, he simply left on the ground. This ironic comment on painting was further understood by the fact that he probably contributed the only work that could not be dismantled or removed at the end of the exhibition. When the wall was repainted, his work disappeared. Subsequently, however, he went on to create numerous screen works with silicone figures were created, which retrospectively must be seen as the first real highlight in his painterly development.
Although the artist is undoubtedly fully aware of the history of painting, his work appears to develop completely independent of the (often self-reflective) painting discourse of recent decades. Conceptual questions concerning the medium do not play a major role, he rather playfully explores form, color and composition. From this point of view, his work can, by all means, be described as classical.
The paintings presented in the current exhibition have seemingly emerged from within themselves in a very short span of time and impress the viewer once more through their formal expertise and clarity. At the same time his pieces immediately “function” as a picture at first glance. Although he uses elements that are already familiar in his work, such as the adhesive tape, they have been reworked and composed here in an unprecedented way. Interestingly, the "non-painter" Eisenberger has once again created a series of works that is exciting and unique in the context of contemporary painting.
Dr. Markus Gugatschka
Christian Eisenberge born in 1978 in Semriach, Steiermark
Dunkle Materie Kalte Gerüchte 9975/14129/30817
27 April – 24 May 2017
After HIMMEL WEISHEIT WALD 9975/13107/27917, 2014 (Parterre Galerie), Amöbe, 2015 (Krinzinger Projekte), DIE BERGE SCHMIEDEN SOLANGE SIE EISEN ESSEN 9975/13822/27937, 2016 (Showroom), Dunkle Materie Kalte Gerüchte 9975/14129/30817 is Christian Eisenberger’s third solo exhibition at Galerie Krinzinger and is dedicated to his latest series of paintings.
Christian Eisenberger’s painterly oeuvre is in many respects exceptional on many counts, first and foremost conceptually, but also aesthetically. Eisenberger has always considered himself more of an artist than a painter. For quite a long time, he used painting (the supreme creative discipline in the arts) only sporadically, since he harboured such strong reservations towards this genre at the beginning of his career. Yet his handling of colour has always been marked by an amazing confidence. His very early works, among them the widely known, numbered cardboard boxes with portraits of famous figures, already stood out because of his individual style, which is quite remarkable, considering the artist’s young age when he created them. Even if the artist gravitated, in the following years, towards other artistic genres (like street or land art) he never entirely gave up painting, in spite of his completely breaking with it at times.
In this context, his contribution to the exhibition "„Malerei: Prozess und Expansion“ (Painting: Process and Expansion") in 2010 at the mumok deserves mention: Back-to-back with a huge Gerhard Richter painting, Eisenberger glued small canals on the wall, from which yellow paint trickled onto the wall. He simply left the watering can, in which he kept the paint in, he simply left on the ground. This ironic comment on painting was further understood by the fact that he probably contributed the only work that could not be dismantled or removed at the end of the exhibition. When the wall was repainted, his work disappeared. Subsequently, however, he went on to create numerous screen works with silicone figures were created, which retrospectively must be seen as the first real highlight in his painterly development.
Although the artist is undoubtedly fully aware of the history of painting, his work appears to develop completely independent of the (often self-reflective) painting discourse of recent decades. Conceptual questions concerning the medium do not play a major role, he rather playfully explores form, color and composition. From this point of view, his work can, by all means, be described as classical.
The paintings presented in the current exhibition have seemingly emerged from within themselves in a very short span of time and impress the viewer once more through their formal expertise and clarity. At the same time his pieces immediately “function” as a picture at first glance. Although he uses elements that are already familiar in his work, such as the adhesive tape, they have been reworked and composed here in an unprecedented way. Interestingly, the "non-painter" Eisenberger has once again created a series of works that is exciting and unique in the context of contemporary painting.
Dr. Markus Gugatschka
Christian Eisenberge born in 1978 in Semriach, Steiermark