June 2, 2020
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“The picture leaves everything open and the language constricts”, Josef Bauer recognized decades ago when he studied at the Linz art school with Herbert Dimmel from 1956 to 1964. He was born in Wels in 1934 and grew up in Gunskirchen. Now the Linz Art Museum Lentos is dedicating a staff to the conceptual artist, thus ushering in the reopening after the corona-related break.
“Josef Bauer is one of the most important contemporary Austrian artists,” emphasizes Doris Lang-Mayerhofer, City Councilor for Culture in Linz: “Bauer’s work has received multiple awards, including the City of Linz’s 1994 Culture Prize.”
The exhibition at Lentos is an installation in which Bauer’s works from all phases of the work are shown and related. You can see the show curated by Brigitte Reutner under the title “Demonstration” until October 4th.
Presentation and protest
“The double meaning of the exhibition title, demonstration’ refers on the one hand to the gesture of presentation, on the other hand to the expression of political protests – two topics that play essential roles in Bauer’s work, ”explains Lentos director Hemma Schmutz.
Bauer’s work is devoted to the different perception of image and text. He abstracts characters, numbers, fragments of language and everyday objects. Pictures of the student riots in Paris in 1968 led him to look at the possibilities of political agitation. From an early age, he was in contact with representatives of the Vienna Group and concrete poetry in Germany.
The exhibition, created in collaboration with the Belvedere in Vienna, shows paintings, graphics, sculptures and photographs from 1950 to the last. Reutner did not order chronologically, she presented thematic groups. For example, series in connection with texts by Heimrad Bäcker, which deal with the horrors and horrors in the Mauthausen concentration camp, as well as a series of soldiers created in 2011 or a photo series “NS sculptures” from 2018.
Other topics are conceptual art. Among other things, “Doris – Installation with placebos”. In the work created from 2001 to 2019, it is not the representational that is essential, but the thought, presented, conceptual. High-heeled shoes, colorful sunglasses and clothing are placeholders for the absent person. Several works deal with color and language perception as well as performance.
Escort in Lentos
As reported, the Lentos offers a special “accompanying program” for the reopening: Under the motto “Come with someone!” An additional ticket for an accompanying person will be issued free of charge when you buy an admission ticket at full price.
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