Three-Quarters Abstract
December 6, 2019 - January 9, 2020
The Three-Quarters Abstract exhibition features works from Alexander Eulert, Barbara Kolo, Bernhard Zimmer, and Bettina Mauel in a visual discussion based on objects, figures, or landscapes, where forms have been simplified or schematized. This exhibition uses forms, such as geometric shapes or gestural marks, which have no source at all in external visual reality. The bodies of work with this ‘pure’ abstraction are often seen as carrying a moral dimension, in that it can be seen to stand for virtues such as order, purity, simplicity, and spirituality.
Alex Eulert’s paintings are abstract propositions of worlds where divergent forces coalesce into harmonious aesthetic integration. He draws his inspiration from a life of long fascination with man as an integral part of nature, his manipulation of it, and nature’s process of reclaiming human creations with the passage of time. Process-oriented and expressionistically inclined, Eulert skillfully explores the confluence between geology and archeology, denoting a benevolent interplay between the natural and the man-made.
A quiet stillness to Barbara Kolo’s work evokes a time of reflection. Inspired by natural forms and influenced by impressionist, Aboriginal, and Asian art, she developed a graceful meditative visual language, using dots or circles and lines. The paintings grow organically, with any resulting symmetry and order happening at the moment. In the featured series, she repeatedly hand stamps ink or acrylic paint circles with different degrees of pressure, creating imperfections and variations that show the artist’s hand.
Bernhard Zimmer creates layered, subtly textured paintings that hold opposites—order and chaos, abstraction and representation, boldness and subtlety—in exquisite tension. Working with oil and mixed media on canvas, he paints fields of soft shapes, blocks of color, and delicate lines; grids of sketchily rendered faces; and blocks of text or word fragments partially submerged, like hieroglyphics, in rich washes of color.
Bettina Mauel expresses dynamism and sensuality in the abstract scenes of dance theater. “I paint what I experience,” she articulates. In her work, the viewer can simplify the reality to be landscapes, flowers, and people in motion, capturing them at a specific moment in time. Whether the subject is dances, cityscapes, landscapes, or pure expressionistic brushstrokes, Mauel has exemplified herself as an expert in the acute perception of ephemeral moments.
