Ronald Kodritsch: Monkeybussines in der Vogelwelt (part1)

Mittwoch, 02. März 2011 - 19:00 Uhr

Projektraum Viktor Bucher

"We shouldn’t let artistry get in the way of art." This is a tall order in the world of contemporary painting, which shows signs of reverting back to figurative painting whenever it attempts to attract a maximum of public acceptance. The quotation at the start of this piece comes from Jonathan Meese and is certainly true of Ronald Kodritsch. Although the latter has artistry in abundance, he is able to tone down his use of it to a considerable extent. Even in the
remotest formulation and most far- fetched idea he can achieve a graphic or pictorial quality that defies description in terms of conventional categories. ¨Anyone wishing to get to the bottom of this phenomenon should first examine pictorial themes, the form used to treat them, and how form can undermine sense and signification. They should reflect on painting and its vocabulary of expression. A careful look at the works of Kodritsch very quickly reveals a formula which states that painting is equal to colour. Painting consists of the relationship between the object and the background, and uses different formats to create pathos or its opposite – i.e. humour.¨First of all it is the choice of theme which makes Kodritsch’s paintings so extraordinary. His works conjure up
a third aspect, that of sarcasm, which sits halfway between humour and lamentation. In this respect Kodritsch is merely following on a long series of Austrian artists with sharp vision and clear formulations. Gerhard Rühm is one of them, as is Günter Brus. In fact the title of Kodritsch’s piece Schassvampir borrows om the name of the latter’s journal in exile: Die Schasstrommel. Kodritsch possesses keen powers of observation. The subject matter that thrusts itself upon
him is one which a painter can scarcely avoid as a producer of pictures. His themes are mundane, but not necessarily banal – there is nothing banal about his dead man hanging from a tree, for example. They can be political in nature: take, for instance, his iconic depiction of Jörg Haider’s wrecked car, which Kodritsch places in the centre of the Austrian flag. And his themes can be humorous, as in the case of the unequal meeting of a bear and a woman. Here, naiveté meets sophistication, and we are left thinking that unequal couples can’t really get on with each other.¨This chance meeting of unequal things
causes them to either wax or wane in significance, as in the case of Batman, who only gains in stature by standing on an oversized plinth. In this depiction his arms are trying to grab a pair of larger-than-life breasts, yet these are barely recognisable as such since they draw on the same repertoire of form which
is used for the bat wing. ¨What strikes us is the broad spectrum of genres he cites. Their stylistic levels are completely different, yet they are juxtaposed on equal terms in his pictures. One source of inspiration in this regard appears to be the comic strip. The attraction of comics is that they can simplify complex situations and therefore take them to extremes. Here Kodritsch progresses from abridgement to a form of abbreviation that tends to defy any further reduction. Batman is an example of this recognisable reduction. Its abstraction concentrates on the essentials and has an immediate impact on the viewer. The surprising twist in the tail is also a device used by the painter: Batman comes across a second example of his species downtown in Gotham City instead of the Batcave. ¨A little exhibitionistic, pornographic or simply just capturing the essentials? Kodritsch gets to the heart of the matter. He examines the underbelly of social conventions and rattles popular taboos. Not everything is as it quite seems. Ultimately, he aims at our habits and ends up hitting the nail on the head. A penis turns into a hand, a plait of hair into a shackle, the portrait becomes a comic, and the meaning of things barely shifts before reappearing in a completely new
guise to the viewer.

Termin

Public Access
Mittwoch, 02.03.2011 19:00
Projektraum Viktor Bucher
Praterstrasse 13/1/2
1020 Wien
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