Thomas Baumgärtel und Otto Alexander Jahrreiss Plakat
more than 400 years ago
the word PLAKAT -poster is born in the Netherlands. During a war of
liberation that lasted more than eighty years, one of the means of
communication was to glue printed leaflets to their houses' walls.
Since than there have been many useful applications to the medium in
public notices and advertisement. Among the most beautiful species
are posters for museums exhibitions, inviting us to visit very
special shows. Today however, posters in our cities yield more and
more to digital formats.
This is where Thomas
Baumgärtel and Otto Alexander Jahrreiss intervene, each of them
in a very special way. Both are interested in these products of the
street, especially what remains after exposure to wind and storm.
While the artworks of both artists could not be more different.
This
is where Thomas Baumgärtel and Otto Alexander Jahrreiss
intervene, each of them in a very special way. Both are interested in
these products of the street, especially what remains after exposure
to wind and storm. While the artworks of both artists could not be
more different.
Otto Alexander Jahrreiss
loves a formative coincidence, recollecting images from various
posters that he finds in the South of Italy. With a trained eye the
fotografer, director, author, advertising and theater artist is
looking for a spark of eternity in the transitory posters, making
collages of a part of a Botticelli Venus here and a Medici
beauty there, decollaging other parts and thus creating unlimited
options for his ideas. The use of parts of old posters makes us
regret that the image is destoryed, while at the same time there is a
distinct fascination that is caused by the reborn composition. It is
the ideal playground for an artist like Jahrreiss, who's mind is used
to constantly travel between the speed of a film and the firm image
of a foto.
He wants to find those
images of today's life that are stable and will not look outdated
when you look at them a later moment. At the same time it seems to be
fascinating to apply these thoughts to works of decay like posters,
to create a piece of art out of many damaged throw away articles. Its
background, coulours, forms invite the eye to make new discoveries.
Once in a lecture at the Berlin Academy of Arts Georg Baselitz
expressed the desire to be the artist with the longer arm who could
paint behind the artwork. Some of these vanished images have now
reappeared in a new shape and Jahreiss invites us to think
about various possibilities to rediscover which memories they excite.
The foundation of Thomas
Baumgärtel's posters are layers of posters that had been glued
to brick walls many years ago. These he turns around so that the
brick structure is still visible and covers the surface with a
hibernal light blue colour, to give it another chance with different
motives. There seems to be a certain scepticism over the fact that
this work is build upon fragile grounds. It is not only the material
that is under observation, but as well the motive. Here Baumgärtel
chooses for example Piet Modrian and Fernand Léger as example,
reminiscent of times in in the abyss when new ideas could have
changed the world aesthetically to a great planet. To think about
Mondrian and Léger today is a wonderful aesthetical
enrichment.
It is not the only way
to prove how to avoid decay. Baumgärtel chooses all kind
of material to paint and spray on. While thinking about the way of
working of his predecessors, he applies new ways of painting and
contemporary ideas to existing motives. This does not stop with
modern masters, but is applied by the Cologne artist to his
Düsseldorf predessors Beuys, Richter, Ueckers. The competition
between the cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf thus becomes very
relaxed. And to him it is fun to incorporate a lot of comic figures
into the art, inviting them to join the company.
We find continuity in
visual art and are looking to provide a basis for contemporary art.
While there is no safe ground, art constantly has to prove its own
value as a safe harbour in stormy weather. Than the task of each new
generation is enlightening and should be protected from generation to
generation. Thomas Baumgärtel and Otto Alexander Jahrreiss are
contributing to make the best aesthetical solutions a pleasing part
of our lives.
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