Franz Thalmair in ARTFORUM, November 2018 Review: Michael Kienzer - grau und farbig, Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman I Vienna
"Poised between lightness and presence,
between impromptu conception and deliberate creative choice, between the
construction of sculpture in the moment and its perpetual disintegration,
Michael Kienzer’s practice typically performs a balancing act. In his
exhibition “grau und farbig” (gray and colorful), the Vienna-based artist gave
another bravura demonstration of his mastery of sculptural precision.
Entering the gallery, the visitor was welcomed by a
fourteen-foot-tall wall object bearing the programmatic title Weiß auf Weiß
(Zeichnung Vol. 6) (White on White [Drawing Vol. 6]) (all works cited, 2018).
The title succinctly captured what set this piece apart in an exhibition that
showed Kienzer grappling with questions of color to an extent not seen in his
earlier work, while suggesting that white on white is also a prerequisite for
any sustained engagement with color. It was composed of bent, folded, and
seemingly knotted lengths of zinc sheeting given a coat of white paint and
mounted on a whitewashed wall. The metal simulated an enormous strip of
crumpled paper, with formlessness its only principle of form. Weiß auf Weiß,
one might say, marked the blank slate on which the exhibition unfolded.
White gave way to gray: Schacht horizontal
(Horizontal Vent), a stepped series of platforms made of cinder blocks and
sections of galvanized steel grating, was installed in the middle of the room
as a kind of sculptural staircase leading nowhere. The steel grating is a
widely available and hard-wearing construction material, used, for example, in
heavy-duty floor grilles on sidewalks. Permeable to light and air, its surface
animated by soft highlights, it contrasted with the dull gray of the cinder
blocks that supported it. Compared to this robust arrangement, the wall object
Graues Verhältnis (Gray Relationship) played with subtler nuances. It combined
twisted metal sheets with layers of a softer steel mesh that produced patterns,
seemingly suspending the piece between sculptural definition and the
dissolution of form.
The interaction of materials is key to Kienzer’s
art; in this show, it was highlighted in particular by the central
installation, Flyer Vol 3 (Gesamtinstallation) (Flyer Vol. 3 [Total
Installation]). The visitor strolled between sculptures consisting of two,
three, or four bent and buckled metal panels that brought to mind those in Weiß
auf Weiß. With light and shadow throwing their warps into relief, they once
again brought paper to mind; the assemblages, held together only by rods and
magnets. might have been outsize flyers, brochures, or invitation cards. Each
of the constituent parts had a title naming its colors and the number of
elements, drawing attention to certain aspects of what was there to see: pure
color, color in concert with other colors, color in relation to form, color in
relation to material, color in relation to the exhibition space - for the
patient beholder, an entire theory of color spread out across the room.
The show was thus further evidence of the
outstanding skill with which Kienzer strikes a delicate balance in the process
of giving form to material and color. Marrying the artist’s playful ease with
pinpoint accuracy, these sculptures also revealed his sense of humor, perhaps
most of all in those instances where he put materials familiar from everyday
life to thoroughly unconventional uses."
Michael Kienzer, born in Steyr, Upper Austria, in 1962, received the Otto Mauer Award in 2001, the Austrian Art Award for Visual Arts in 2012, and the Anerkannt. Etabliert. Angekommen. Art Austria Award in 2013. He lives and works in Vienna.
Numerous international exhibitions and public space
projects since 1984, e.g. 2005 Neue Immobilien MAK Vienna; 2007 Vor Ort Museum
für Gegenwartskunst Stift Admont; 2009 Out site_02 MUMOK Vienna; 2010 Malerei:
Prozess und Expansion MUMOK Vienna; 2010 Triennale Linz; 2010 Linea Kunsthaus
Zug; 2011 Fünf Räume Austrian Cultural Forum New York; 2011 54th Biennale di
Venezia Glasstress Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti; 2012 Logik und Eigensinn
Kunsthaus Graz; 2014 Gironcoli + Kienzer Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman
Innsbruck; 2016 24 von 274.668 Tagen Klangraum Krems Minoritenkirche; 2016
ABSTRAKT – SPATIAL. Malerei im Raum Kunsthalle Krems; 2016 The Body Extended:
Sculpture and Prosthetics Henry Moore Institute Leeds; 2017 Lose Dichte
Gerhard-Marcks-Haus Bremen; 2017 Lärm und Linien Kunsthaus Zug; 2018 grau und
farbig Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman Vienna; 2019 Zu viel ist nicht
genug! Die Schenkung “Sammlung Atelier” Universalmuseum Joanneum Graz; 2019 Austrian
Secrets The Galaxy Museum of Contemporary Art Chongqing China.
