|
GERMAN
Slight
Anonymity
On “A Space” from the series “Das Körperkörper-Problem (The Bodybody-Problem)”
by Clemens Krauss
Tereza de Arruda
Clemens Krauss is a performer who paints, a conceptualist, who performs.
His field of work eludes clear demarcation. By careful observation it
quickly becomes apparent that these boundaries - performer,
conceptualist or painter - have scarcely any meaning. One develops out
of the other, one method constitutes the other- and vice versa.
The central theme of Clemens Krauss’ work remains stable: the
(human) body.
Ultimatly this is the concern of his series of paintings “The Bodybody-Problem”,
on which Krauss has been working since 2004. This work equally resists a
definable canon, having a fundamental resistance to rigid concepts such
as genre or technique. Again and again anonymous figures find themselves
on completely white backgrounds. Or perhaps it is not back ground, but
rather merely unpainted canvas?
The bodies are moulded in parts with absurdly thick paint. Contrast and
shading seem to result from the accidental inter-flowing – or contorting
– of the painted layers. The application of paint is built up in various
layers, through which the surface of the painting becomes a kind of
cratered moon-scape. Text appears sporadically in places - always
fragmented and practically unreadable.
With the work “A Space” ideas of a space-orientated painting performance
are brought into question. Krauss sees “A Space” as part of the series
“The Bodybody-Problem”. Principly, the themes of image creation and
technique- referred to in the concept of the series - are alike. The
subversion of existing order comes into play here in the actual
image-carrier. From the flat, transportable canvas comes an
architectural situation out of the image comes a space.
In summer 2005 the exhibition “Der Freie Wille (The Free Will)” was held
in the Bunker under the Arena in Berlin. It was here that Clemens Krauss
first worked with the principle of a three-dimensional room. The
surrounding subterranean walls and low ceilings of the bunker
strengthend the immersive feeling of the work- the room became not only
an accessible installation but also a reflexion of the place itself.
In certain ways it is the same in “A Space”. As the gallery space does
not hold such excessive meaning, situation, structure and perspective
establish themselves as the creative conditions the p l a c e sets b
e f or e the work. Indeed, Krauss observed that introspection,
turning-in-on-oneself in the site of production is an integral component
of the performance based painting proccess.
The element of performance lies at the base of all Clemens Krauss’ work.
The body is more or less the starting point of his field of work – and
so also his painting. The body serves as model, reference point, as well
as void - therefore the protagonist is not simply Clemens Krauss as an
individual.
The idealised image of cultural history depends upon the attributes of
flawless beauty and human significance. With Krauss it is another matter
(not about an “ideal”); the aesthetic or meaningful valuation of the
directly represented moment.
Clemens Krauss takes on the role of an actor, embodying various
personalities. The figures for these roles, his pre-images (models),
stem from the sea of images found in current mass media and the
mechanisms of communication. Posing figures are omnipresent in magazines
and newspapers and on the television and internet. The selected images
mimic or pose in relation to sociological and political incidents.
They are a part of the changing pace of Globalisation, which enable
Krauss simultaneously to impersonate the “real” protagonist, taking on
certain poses and attitudes, whilst at the same time re-constructing and
re-combining them in consequential work.
“The actual adventure of modern times is held within, the fact that for
the first time in history everybody is confronted with everybody else,
without the obstruction of circumstances and living conditions.”
The constructed moment, again, newly provoked by Clemens Krauss in his
work, refers not only to a specific entity, rather to systems,
manifestations, demonstrations and confrontations, which become
symbolized. The figures in these situations may be athletes,
adolescents, music-groups, demonstrators or fanatics.
The painting procedure could at first glance be comparable with the
“emulation of nature”. However, Clemens Krauss paints his figures
without faces; neither the so called role-models, nor the artist are
clearly recognisible. The identity remains concealed. This lack of
clarity allows much greater scope for speculation. The motive of the
paintings is the result of the absorption and adaptation of various
characters and myths from day-to-day life, which become fused together.
At first glance, subject and object operate as if bound together: “If
subject has a core of an object, then the subjective qualities of the
object are more than anything, a moment of the objective. Only by being
determined does the object become something.”
The lack of clarity of the images is evidence of the process of
metamorphosis. This assumption is made even clearer by means of the
painting manner. The representation is composed of an amalgamation of
colours, transfusing into one another. The contours remain unclear, the
oil-paint becomes alive. It reflects a mobile dynamic. The mass of the
structure frees itself from the image-carrier and partially intrudes
into the space. The organic is not positioned through skin or hair,
rather through volume.
Much like one of the principles of Enlightenment the organism can be
thought of as functional: The functions of the body are more important
than body itself.
This discourse finds itself represented in “A Space” in the DNA Gallery
Berlin. The space changes itself into an image-carrier. The figures
multiply erratically over the walls. Clemens Krauss paints mostly only
torsos, at least, figures without complete limbs. Nevertheless one feels
a strong sense of motility and velocity in the compositions.
Through observing this performance the process becomes clear:
conception, realisation, presentation. That this process, so to speak,
appears in a public gallery – as opposed to a private studio – causes
the fulfilment of the work to separate from the procedure, it becomes
part of the result.
At the end of the exhibition the fully emerged work will be removed from
the wall and will have to be destroyed. Its brief existence leaves a
kind of pre-programmed longing in the viewer. Every fleeting character
carries in its essence the potentiality of a myth.
“Myth is a value, it does not have truth as an assurance; nothing
hinders it from being a perpetual alibi. It suffices, that the
connotations have two sides and always have an elsewhere at their
disposal: the sense is always there, in order to make the form present,
the form is there in order distance the sense. There is never
contradiction, conflict, a divide between the sense and the form, they
never find themselves at the same point. In the same way I can, when I
travel in a car through the countryside and observe the landscape
through the window, at my discretion rest my gaze on either the glass of
the window or the countryside. Quickly I register the presence of the
glass and the distance of the scenery, the translucency of the glass and
the depth of the landscape. The conclusion of these alternations is ever
constant: the glass is for me present and at the same time empty, the
landscape is unreal and at the same time fulfilled. It goes in exactly
the same way with mythical connotations: the form is empty, but present,
the sense is absent but yet fulfilled.”
“A Space” fulfils its function whilst also causing a void, after the
destruction of the installation. However its brief existence on Earth –
its meaning- will be documented. Like the cycle of life, the circuit is
finally closing: the images of the series “The Bodybody-Problem” derive
from printed and visual media. The painting installation “A Space” will
after its end exist only as a past action but will return as
documentation in printed media.
|
