WALTER OBHOLZER

EXHIBITION PROGRAM 2000

Main Room   
December 7, 2000 – January 21, 2001
 
 

Walter Obholzer, Secession 2000
 
 
The Secession continues in its programmatic tradition of presenting international positions of contemporary painting with a one man show of Walter Obholzer's work. In the main room Walter Obholzer shows his latest work, some of which was created especially for the Secession show. The exhibition architecture was designed by the Pauhof Architectural Group.
 


Walter Obholzer, Secession 2000


In his 1992 essay on the conceptual in Austrian contemporary art, Markus Brüderlin stated that not only had a "genuine extension of Duchamp's idea of art" taken place in Vienna, but also that the idea of "art as context" had been processed on a formal level through the "conceptualization of the idea of decoration", "thereby building on local traditions". According to him, these local traditions could be traced back to the Jugendstil movement of the Secessionists, and it was before this backdrop that a group of young Austrian artists in the '80s were to be seen as they began to intensify the critical debate as to institutional frameworks of production, agency, and reception of art and, in so doing, entered into the international discourse of conceptual art.
 


Walter Obholzer, Secession 2000


Born in 1953, Walter Obholzer was among the artists in question. With his work he made a major contribution toward the "establishment of decoration on the painted surface as a formal counterpoint to that which functions on the surface of object art with Duchamp as a category of context. . Just as context describes the formation of meanings and functions through placement in various juxtapositions, so does decoration make the boundaries between differing formal, societal, ontological, and historical realms visible and create relationships between them." (M.B.) Walter Obholzer works with existing, inorganic forms such as ornaments and emblems. In this way he not only introduces collective formal memories into his images, but also mixes in his findings on the structures of communication in our mass-media influenced information age, in which the ornament acts as a structurally ordering principle for digital worlds of images. Walter Obholzer usually uses thin aluminum sheets or the wall itself as a vehicle for his images; the painting enters into a symbiotic relationship with the exhibition space itself. By means of this flexible definition lying somewhere between an autonomous painting and stationary wall painting a new kind of functionality of painting comes into being. One and the same motif can appear in different locations and atmospherically melt into the various givens of the place. This unusual applied character of the painting, together with the seemingly paradoxical connection of the stationary locality of the exhibition site and the unlimited tangibility of the images point out Walter Obholzer's notion of painting, which is borne by the central idea of binding the fleetingness of the image to the concept of a site. The tense relationship thus characterizing Walter Obholzer's work is heightened by the historical significance of the exhibition space in the Secession show. The main space of the Secession is, rather famously, that of one of the first "white cubes", an "ideal" exhibition space from the point of view of the Secessionists. Into this theoretical discourse on the ideological neutrality of the "white cube" Walter Obholzer invited the Pauhof Architectural Group. For the presentation of his images they designed an exhibition that breaks away from the "totalitarian character" (W.O.) of other painting shows.
 


Walter Obholzer, Secession 2000


The left and right side galleries of the main space are cordoned off by a 40 cm high platform that fills the space. A section of the walls, the floor, and the ceiling are covered with black paint. This gives the impression of two enormous pipes that could actually be entered. Floating walls with extreme angles and spans create a dynamic effect in the central space and rear gallery. With very minimal formal elements, therefore, the Pauhof Group achieves a maximal new sense of space which utterly changes one's perception of painting. Topics such as time, motion, active and passive perception of images and of the exhibition site itself are integrated in a way which makes them visible.
 


Walter Obholzer, Secession 2000


In their work, both Walter Obholzer and the Pauhof Architectural Group are on the lookout for the kinds of abstractions that create new realities. Walter Obholzer does this within the context of painting, while the Pauhof Group work as architects. But both put their artistic medium to use as a system for reflection in which painting and architecture function as an etherealized process of discovery.
 


PUBLICATION
A catalogue with essays by Georg Schöllhammer, Matthias Herrmann, and the Pauhof Architectural Group will accompany the exhibition. The catalogue with appear in German and English.

WALTER OBHOLZER 48 pages, 30 colored illustrations, 3 b/w illustrations authors: Matthias Herrmann, Georg Schöllhammer, PAUHOF architekten Secession 2000, ISBN 3-901926-29-1 ___________________ Available in the shop

 
This exhibition was made possible by the generous support of Fujitsu Siemens Computers.
 
 
EXHIBITION DISCUSSION
January 2001 on the occasion of a show of works by Walter Obholzer: Walter Obholzer meeting with Michael Hofstätter (PAUHOF) and Hans-Ulrich Obrist for a discussion, organized by the Friends of the Secession.


BIOGRAPHIES
Walter Obholzer, born in 1953 in Ebbs/Tyrolia, lives and works in Vienna. Exhibitions (selected): Galerie Meyer & Kainer, Vienna (2000); Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Salzburg (1999); Galerie Stadtpark Krems (1997); W139, Amsterdam (1997); "Jenseits von Kunst" ("Beyond Art"), Neue Galerie, Graz (1999); "Pittura", Castello di Rivoli, Turin (1996); "Pittura/Immedia", Neue Galerie, Graz (1995); "1994 gefüllt" ("1994 filled"), Salzburger Kunstverein (1994); Kunsthalle Innsbruck (1994); "future perfect", Heiligenkreuzerhof, Vienna (1993); "Der zerbrochene Spiegel" ("The Shattered Mirror"), Kunsthalle and Messepalast, Vienna (1993); Taxispalais, Innsbruck (1992); "oh cet écho", Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris (1992); "Kunst-Europa" ("Art-Europe"), Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (1991); Biennale Sao Paulo (1991); Kunstforum Munich (1991); "Hendendaagse Kunst", Eindhoven (1990); ..
 
Pauhof Architects: Michael Hofstätter (b. 1953) and Wolfgang Pauzenberger (b. 1955) founded Pauhof Architects in 1986 after a number of years teaching at the Vienna Technical University: Pauhof's activities range from urban studies to experimental architectural projects, contributions to national and international competitions, and participation in and design of exhibitions. Projects (selected): Seville Expo Pavilion '92; Gramastetten Metal Workshop (1990); North Vienna Urban Development Plan (1991); Country House for M., Gramastetten (1992); Holocaust Memorial at Judenplatz, Vienna (1995); Townhouse for S., Linz (2000); ..
 

RÓZA EL-HASSAN

EXHIBITION PROGRAM 2000

 
 
 
For further information and photographic material please contact:
 
Urte Schmitt-Ulms
Secession, Association of Visual Artists Vienna Secession
Friedrichstraße 12, 1010 Vienna
Tel: +43-1-5875307-21, Fax: +43-1-5875307-34
presse@secession.at