Aurelia Gratzer‘s solo show at Galerie Hunchentoot has been extended into August. The small commercial gallery in Mitte is showing 8 of her paintings, the majority of which are presented on large format canvasses.
Gratzer’s work is at once abstract and highly technical. Her geometric, measured architecture and interiors appear somewhat banal, like a belated nod to the stillness of Edward Hopper’s realist paintings (but without any of the people). Yet, as the eye attempts to navigate the lines and form of the subject matter, the aesthetics of the works take on more nuanced meaning.
Aurelia Gratzer “Faber” (2014), 140 x 180 cm
Seen in the light of ‘post-Internet’ art, which suggests that art made today must respond to the pervasiveness of the digital age, Gratzer’s paintings seem to deal intimately with this. She takes real estate advertisements as inspiration, particularly what she regards as aesthetically “bad” 3D architectural renderings of buildings and interiors. She then recreates them in painting, with colours reminiscent of a kind of 80’s business palette: shades of brown, yellow, and royal blue side by side on the walls of an indefinable space.
The works have a sci-fi sleekness, in a manner that was common to cinematic images of the “future” (now past), à la Blade Runner. There’s something jarring about seeing this style presented in painting, but Gratzer does it exceptionally well. By returning the images to a more classical art form, she manages to skillfully convey the fantastical tone and utopian energy of real estate ads, highlighting their absurd perfection, while maintaining their unsavoury elements.
Aurelia Gratzer “Women’s Digest” (2013), 140 x 180 cm
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Additional Information
HUNCHENTOOT GALERIE
“FABER”- AURELIA GRATZER
Exhibition: May 16 – Aug. 23, 2014
Summer break: Jul. 13 – Aug. 11, 2014
Opening Hours: Tuesday – Friday 4pm – 7pm / Saturday 10am – 6pm
Choriner Straße 8 (click here for map)
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Blog entry by Alison Hugill in Berlin; Friday, Jul. 11, 2014.
