The Gestural

This exhibition is centered around gesture in painting and is on view at the 21er Raum from September 8 to November 20, 2016. The show was prompted by a recent donation to the Belvedere – Rouges différents sur noir - Liechtenstein (1956/57) by Markus Prachensky.

The painting serves as a starting point of comparison to other works from international artists and seeks to shed light on various aspects evoked by the stroke of a brush. What this comparison has made all the more apparent is the way in which the interpretation and reception of the painterly gesture has changed in times of technical reproduction and media saturation.

"The donation of the work Rouges différents sur noir - Liechtenstein by Markus Prachensky is of great importance to the Belvedere. It creates the point of departure for the exhibition The Gestural, which deals with brushwork in the contemporary context - the first show of its kind at the Belvedere. Additionally the exhibition will festively inaugurate the new programmatic approach of the 21er Raum," says Agnes Husslein, director of the Belvedere and the 21er Haus.

Prachensky’s work can be categorized as part of the Informalism movement, which developed in Paris during the 1950s as the European counterpart to American Action Painting. Compared to geometric abstract painting, this movement had primarily to do with the tracing of a gestural impulse – with the energy applied to the canvas.

In today’s contemporary context, the brushstroke is understood as making critical reference to the myth of the artist in an effort to question firmly anchored perspectives regarding authorship and artistic authenticity. An instance of such re-examination will be enacted in Christian Falsnaes’ performance at the opening on September 7th, when the artist will become the brush, while the audience will act out the role of the artist, thereby questioning the principle of individual authorship.

Artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Thomas Bayrle and Klaus Mosettig imitate the gestural impulse in a variety of different ways. In a further example, the video Punkt (2006), by Roman Signer, pointedly parodies expressive painting.

Starting in September 2016, the program for the 21er Raum will be re-oriented to accommodate the exhibition, The Gestural. Measuring about 70 m², the top floor of the 21er Haus will host a number of upcoming themed group exhibitions that will enable works by local and international artists with both contemporary and historical points of view to enter into dialogue together.

To date, the 21er Raum has housed 22 solo exhibitions ranging both from artists living and working in Austria to artists in residence invited by the Belvedere to sojourn in Vienna in order to develop and present their work, as well as to become familiar and interact with the Austrian art scene.

The exhibition includes works by Thomas Bayrle, Andy Boot, Christian Falsnaes, Roy Lichtenstein, Klaus Mosettig, Laura Owens, Markus Prachensky und Roman Signer.