Opening of Viennafair Today, Viennafair opened the doors for the public. I visited yesterday's preview and vernissage where I came along art works like Shepard Fairey's painting 'Glory' (Galerie Ernst Hilger, Vienna) or Carlos Aires' works 'Disaster V' (a man with machine gun in front of a one Dollar bank note) and 'Love is in the Air' (Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art, Salzburg - Vienna) which reflect on society by using the visual esthetics of today's popular culture. Other works - such as the two sculptures on view on this page, concern the threat and memory of war by communicating their messages with the means of clothing and head wear. fig. right: Artist MK Kähne (Galerie Michael Schultz Berlin) shows a man in a dark business suit lying on red carpet-like opened drawers of a linen cabinet with white collar shirts, tie, socks and shoe care utensils. At his head stands a machine gun with bullets. The piece is named after the sound the gun makes: Raddaddadada. There are many associations possible (after I received the information by the galerist that it is about the threat of war); perhaps the one which evokes at first is that war is often caused by economical interests - or that war is created by serious looking people with well maintained shoes. For the ones who prefer last mentioned association, the artist's upcoming exhibition 'Paranoia' at Galerie Michael Schultz Berlin could be interesting. fig. below: Another piece which concerns the theme 'war' is the helmet with buzzard wings by Zoltán Béla (represented by Anca Poterasu Gallery, Bucharest). The helmet is an original WWII helmet which was covered by the artist with silver. With the two wings, the artist references the Roman god Mercurius; the god stands for merchant, commerce and messages, communication. There are many other interesting artworks at Viennafair; even some which will make visitors smile: such as a globe with sketches which show - I had to look twice - yes, the scribbled people there are copulating at Olga Georgieva's round art work from the series 'Du sollst deinen Nächsten lieben' (transl. 'You shall love your neighbor') at the booth of Vienna-based Galerie Silvia Steinek. Viennafair is open until 5 October 2014. |
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