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Indepth Arts News:
"Wolfgang Pavlik: Different Image"
2004-02-06 until 2004-03-20
Mannheimer Kunstverein raum 2
Mannheim, ,
DE Germany
Mannheimer Kunstverein raum 2 is pleased to announce an exhibition by Wolfgang Pavlik. This will be the first larger exhibition of the artist’s work in Germany since the small show 1999 at Art Forum Berlin. Wolfgang Pavlik has taken the image of unknown pictures from newspaper and created a series of portraits that are parenthetically titled: new Portraits. The first thing one notices about these persons is that they have been stripped of their sight, they have no eyes. The artist explains their absence as a means to force the viewer to look at the paintings and not the eyes.
The viewer looks at faces that withhold from being identyfied by him. Their eyes are closed or hidden by means of a shade cast on them so as to shift the other parts of the face to the centre of attention. It’s a common feature in many of Pavlik’s pictures that a monocrome surface hides its objects in a way that sujet and surface change their places. In his architectural and landscape paintings the objects are partly even banished to the frame. Subject and theme, object and presentation are thus given a productive drive. The abstract surface invites the viewer to project ideas and interpretations, on the other hand refusing him to discover a final clue. However, in his newer “portraits” nose, lips and chin by means of the shade form new faces which are no longer dominated by the eyes. The viewer comes to realize the face as a projection area and isn’t therefore forced but rather seduced to look at it from a different point of view.
The medium of paint creates a luscious visceral surface. The technique lies in stark contrast to the lack of sentimentality of the imagery, creating an unexpected harmony. Wolfgang Pavlik , born in Vienna
selected shows: 1995 Reykjavik, Living Art Museum,"Seven Austrian Artists", 1997 Florenz, The European University Inst., "The Image of the Other" 2000 Turin, Galerie En Plein Air, Wien, Jesuitenfoyer," zwei Portraits", 2001 Steyr Kunsthalle tmp. Steyr, "Really“, Linz, Neue Galerie Linz (Lentos), "Die Sammlung", 2003 Wien, Galerie Sauruck, "Icons"
The exhibition is curated by Camilla Bonath-Voelkel
IMAGE
Wolfgang Pavlik,
Iris, 2003
Oil / canvas
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