At the beginning of 2014, the bechter kastowsky gallery in Vienna presented an exhibition entitled ‘Masters of the northern lights / Düsseldorf’: five young positions from the Düsseldorf Art Academy (Jenny Delhasse, Johanna Honisch, Christian Seidler, Levente Szücs and Alicia Viebrock). Following the promise to launch further projects with the artists, the gallery is now showing the exhibition ‘monotypien’ with works by Christian Seidler and Alicia Viebrock.
Christian Seidler and Alicia Viebrock travelled from Düsseldorf to Austria in spring 2015 to work on monotypes together with Christoph Chavanne and Gabi Pechmann. Fantastic works were created over two separate days. The young artists approached the technique, made it their own and explored it for themselves. They embarked on the process without too much prior knowledge: Plexiglas plate, modified oil paint and the mirrored transfer of their painting onto a specially prepared paper. The resulting works are very different.
Christian Seidler, for example, has found a very dense pictorial solution by superimposing several panels and using relatively liquid colour in some of the works on paper. The light-coloured works are also determined by several printing processes.
Alicia Viebrock ‘paints’ on the Plexiglas support - comparable to her canvas works: energetic, gestural and free. The ‘detachment’ or ‘wiping away’ of the colour also plays a role here, with the shape of a ship suddenly appearing before the viewer's eye, emerging brightly and luminously from the dark, black background. In another picture, for example, a figurative, abstract structure appears on a light-coloured, diffuse background.
Mature works, created a year and a half after the first presentation in Vienna, each one a strong and unique piece. Herbert Brandl - professor, mentor and friend - made this exciting encounter between two young painters with the workshop and the technique of monotype possible. Christoph Chavanne and Gabi Pechmann accompanied Christian Seidler and Alicia Viebrock in their usual professional and amiable manner.
The gallery has selected the works: a total of ten large-format works (147 x 101.5 cm each), five per artist, will be shown in the exhibition.