From November 4 shows Gerhard Fresacher under the title sense territory im DISTRICT4art current works and attempts to capture the poetry of his everyday life. The presentation will be opened on Thursday, November 03, 2022 at 7 p.m. by Roman Grabner, Director, BRUSEUM – Neue Galerie Graz with the Gerhard Fresacher 2018 no disco behind, Zhytomyr/Ukraine.
The result of Gerhard Fresacher’s aesthetic approach are illustrated protocols that act like abstract maps of moments behind the figures involved – friends, companions, loved ones – their own and his own emotions. Territories that are actually invisible, often only diffuse atmospheres that have been opened up; Shaped by his many years of work and experience as a stage designer and director, Fresacher is always very close to people with and in his paintings. The focus is on looking behind the facade. Like an archaeologist, he digs deeper, uncovers the invisible, catapults the unspoken to the surface.
With the help of these illustrated protocols from a solidifying sensory world, he asks himself and the viewer questions that represent metacognitive processes on the topic of “new beginnings” and allegories of one’s own being. He gropes his way between snapshots and perspectives in an anthropological-aesthetic way, strengthened by the knowledge of the existence of the sense of possibility as presented by Robert Musil in his novel The Man Without Qualities.
“Always with the ‘territory’ in the corner of my eye, I work my way step by step on the canvas. Words, texts and conversations that I have heard, read and had are sources of inspiration for me. Also literary and audiovisual sources such as plays by Anton Chekhov and William Shakespeare, literature from Novalis to Ingeborg Bachmann to Georg Timber Trattnig to Virginie Despentes, the artistic work of Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys and Christoph Schlingensief, most recently the encounter with the artist Barbara Ungepfhlt , podcasts about philosophy and art history are another driving force in order to be able to capture the human being in its entirety with its sensory world ‘two-dimensionally’ or at least to have dared to try. The German writer and philosopher Novalis carried me decisively through this phase of my work. His thinking has lost none of its topicality to this day: a glowing European, an avid thinker and romantic with heart and mind. Trust the process! Gerhard Fresacher
The works often appear like cartographies of unknown, as yet undiscovered areas. Here an island, there emptiness, isolated connecting paths between already explored regions. In search of clarity, he gropes his way layer by layer, sometimes completes his pictures with words or cryptic combinations of letters, paints over and showers them, always guided and driven by new discoveries or insights and the associated emotions. Gerhard Fresacher defines painting as a research tool. It serves to find one’s way in the complexity of our world and its inhabitants.
“Gerhard Fresacher has been with me for more than two years now on most projects and campaigns and I am very happy to be able to intensify this wonderful collaboration with the solo exhibition ‘sense territory’. With his interdisciplinary approach, he is an important source of inspiration for our campaigns and his multifaceted work enriches our portfolio. On the occasion of the current exhibition, Gerhard Fresacher has conceived an ‘offer for wasting time’. I find the idea of asking a guest who has already worked with Gerhard to the gallery every Friday and having this guest speak and discuss with the interested audience particularly exciting. We are also considering a digital extension of the exhibition via Instagram.” Gisela Weissenbach
Joint projects DISTRICT4art and Gerhard Fresacher: VACANCY. Gerhard Fresacher. Wolfgang Walkensteiner. Initiated by architect Michael Hein. Hosted by DISTRICT4art (March 15 – April 30, 2022) and Playstation Festival – 3 days of action EMPTY INSTEAD OF TRAUMA at the Haus der Wiener Kaufmann (April 21 – 23, 2022) as part of on the road; PlayStation. contact person 1.performance by Gerhard Fresacher with the protogonists Andreas Patton and Kristina Sprenger (05 May 2022), DISTRICT4art.
DISTRICT4art was created by Gisela Weissenbach Initiated in 2018. The collector and gallery owner, who specializes in art from South Africa, shows established and young art positions from various disciplines such as painting, photography, video, object art, sculpture and performance art in solo and group exhibitions Peter Baldinger, Gerhard Fresacher, Anton Herzl, Alexandra Irlacher, Peter Lohmeyer, Billi Thanner or Zoran Šimunović. New in the program are art positions by Daniel Hosenberg and Sylvia Kummer and Every Sylvia Krystufek.
Platform for collective, performative works: Since the beginning of the year, Gisela Weissenbach has been offering artists the opportunity to use DISTRICT4art as a platform for collective, performative works in addition to work presentations. Performances, concerts and readings take place every first Thursday of the month.