Christoph
Ruckhäberle
March 5 - April 24 2004
Opening Friday March 5 from 17-19
It is a great pleasure to present Christophs Ruckhäberle's
first solo exhibition in the gallery.
Christoph Ruckhäberle, born 1972 in Germany, takes up an innovative
position in contemporary painting. The style of his work has been
compared with paintings by George Grosz and Max Beckman from the
1920s and 30s. Though rather than being an anachronism, Ruckhäberle
seems to bridge the gap between the past and the present. His relationship
with tradition is full of ambiguity.
In Ruckhäberle's works classical motifs are subverted by figures
that break the traditional form, thematically as well as technically.
Behind a stern expression an artistic game with surprising effects
and content comes into play. Ruckhäberle's knowledge of classical
painting is juxtaposed with the training he acquired studying animation
in California.
The paintings dissolve space and time. Although perspective is present
in his work, one cannot escape the feeling that the background is
as flat as the canvas. Like a set piece for a film production it
serves no purpose besides acting as a backdrop for the depicted
subjects.
The motifs are like stills taken from a film. The subjects depicted
seem to be quite comically suspended in motion or frozen in a strange
choreography. Their solemn faces do not reveal any feeling and they
seem to lack any form of interaction. Although the scenes are filled
with what can be seen as symbols, one is denied any singular reading.
The plot is undisclosed and by no means available to viewer. One
is simply allowed a glimpse into an else inaccessible world.
This is closely linked with the overwhelming nostalgia one feels
when confronted with Ruckhäberle's work. Snapshots from a time
lost, they try to give painterly form to what history has erased.
This attempt to conjure up a world long gone, is of course impossible
from the very beginning. The paintings are mysterious and seem hermetically
closed around themselves. They resist the spectator, only slowly
giving away their meaning.
This is Christoph Ruckhäberle's first solo exhibition outside
Germany .
We are happy to welcome you in the gallery.
Kind regards, Galleri Nicolai Wallner
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