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Lot Essay
'Located between tropical potted plants, at times twisting and turning like cobras, and gestural and geometric abstractions, with which Weischer conjugates Modernism, 'beautiful living' was only rarely so terribly beautiful ... Faded walls, shattered windowpanes, languid curtains in a slack wind, dust-covered offices flooded in sunlight - all move from the reality of the economic disaster of industrial landscapes that refuse to flourish into the paintings of an artist who transforms them into mythical images of time stood still. Exquisite paintings with false bottoms that, in highly speculative self-reflection, can be understood as symbols of profitable economic barbarity ... The Westphalian in Leipzig stubbornly and romantically paints the emotional states of a generation that has much reason to believe that its future may have never begun.' (R. Bergmann in Kunstpreis der Leipziger Volkszeitung: Matthias Weischer, exh. cat., Museum der Bildenden Kunste, Leipzig, 2005, p. 50).
Matthias Weischer seems to find creative inspiration through opposition. Born in West Germany, Weischer chose to pursue the study of art in the eastern city of Leipzig. There, Weischer embraced oil on canvas to create work that employs figuration and abstraction, three-dimensionality and flatness, illusion and reality, to present an original depiction of contemporary life through the exploration of domestic interiors. By injecting this realm of comfort and security with a palpable sense of the uncanny, the artist reveals the nagging uncertainties lurking beneath the surface of a seemingly confident modern society.
All of these major themes are present in Familie O. Nachmittag (Family O. Afternoon). Faced with a sun-drenched living room, viewers are pulled into the familial space by decorative details dispersed throughout the room. These carefully depicted details, combined with Weischer's meticulous rendering of the stacked bricks of the fireplace and the jigsaw-puzzle geometry of the central carpet lends the room an atmosphere of calm organization and order. Yet as the eye travels away from these individual elements, the sense of balance and space begins to disintegrate as a result of Weischer's manipulation of perspective. The bright sunlight which floods in on a sharp diagonal through the large window to the right of the painting, clashes with the carefully arranged verticals and horizontals of the room. Casting strange shadows and shining unexpected spotlights across the far wall and floor, the harsh light disrupts the lines of perspective and fills the space with a discernable tension. All spatial bearings lost, viewers are left with the fascinating task of making sense of the layers of Weischer's painting and grappling with the meaning of the inexplicable geometric interpretation of a bird at the center of the work-- a process which intelligently mirrors the manner in which many struggle to wade through the multiple strata of their everyday lives and wrestle with the often enigmatic recurring doubts of human existence.
Matthias Weischer seems to find creative inspiration through opposition. Born in West Germany, Weischer chose to pursue the study of art in the eastern city of Leipzig. There, Weischer embraced oil on canvas to create work that employs figuration and abstraction, three-dimensionality and flatness, illusion and reality, to present an original depiction of contemporary life through the exploration of domestic interiors. By injecting this realm of comfort and security with a palpable sense of the uncanny, the artist reveals the nagging uncertainties lurking beneath the surface of a seemingly confident modern society.
All of these major themes are present in Familie O. Nachmittag (Family O. Afternoon). Faced with a sun-drenched living room, viewers are pulled into the familial space by decorative details dispersed throughout the room. These carefully depicted details, combined with Weischer's meticulous rendering of the stacked bricks of the fireplace and the jigsaw-puzzle geometry of the central carpet lends the room an atmosphere of calm organization and order. Yet as the eye travels away from these individual elements, the sense of balance and space begins to disintegrate as a result of Weischer's manipulation of perspective. The bright sunlight which floods in on a sharp diagonal through the large window to the right of the painting, clashes with the carefully arranged verticals and horizontals of the room. Casting strange shadows and shining unexpected spotlights across the far wall and floor, the harsh light disrupts the lines of perspective and fills the space with a discernable tension. All spatial bearings lost, viewers are left with the fascinating task of making sense of the layers of Weischer's painting and grappling with the meaning of the inexplicable geometric interpretation of a bird at the center of the work-- a process which intelligently mirrors the manner in which many struggle to wade through the multiple strata of their everyday lives and wrestle with the often enigmatic recurring doubts of human existence.