Artwork of the month September

Hanns Kunitzberger, 1st Half 2017 Later, 2017, Hilti Art Foundation

Hanns Kunitzberger

* 1955 in Salzburg, lives and works in Berlin


1st Half 2017 Later, 2017


Oil on molino
225 × 150 × 4 cm
Hilti Art Foundation, Schaan

 

After completing a diploma thesis on stage design and scenography at the Mozarteum, the former University of Music and Performing Arts in Salzburg, Hanns Kunitzberger studied theatre and film directing and, from 1980, increasingly devoted himself to painting, which he made his main professional activity ten years later.

Kunitzberger's interest in painting is expressed in a subtle turn to colour, which he does not tie to natural or abstract forms, but allows to appear freely and entirely for its own sake as a colour continuum, as an atmospheric "sfumato" in space. The eye is therefore unable to find a specific place in the picture, for the paint is applied with a brush, but without a staged duct, matt and without edges. Only when viewed up close does their fabric quality become apparent, as does that of the linen or cotton as their support. Only the edges of the picture alone set a limit to the continuum of colour. Insofar as the colour content is condensed or intensified towards the centre of the picture, as is the case in numerous works by the painter, these are transformed, as it were, into an imaginary "stage space".

Kunitzberger paints from the depth of the picture ground, laying pigmented oil glazes on top of each other layer by layer. Although the colour appears spatially, almost floating, it does not have an expansive effect beyond the edges of the picture because it is mostly concentrated in the centre. Rather, it draws the gaze into the depths of the stage space and envelops it. In any case, all colours, whether warm or cold, light or dark, are characterised by a quiet restraint and a gently bound inner light. Kunitzberger's works invite contemplation and at the same time point to the invisible by exploring the visible.

Uwe Wieczorek

 

"The visible is never the object itself, but always only its boundary. "

Hanns Kunitzberger

<b>Hanns Kunitzberger, 1st Half 2017 Later, 2017, Hilti Art Foundation</b>
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein highlights a work from the permanent collection each month throughout the year. Works from the collection of the Hilti Art Foundation are also included in this series on a regular basis.