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Lot Essay
Kai Althoff is a contemporary German artist whose works provide a unique commentary on religion, history, and human subjectivity. Althoff borrows from moments of history, religious iconography, and counter-cultural movements, drawing and painting scenes of narrative ambiguity. Presenting a myriad of subjects and themes, Althoff builds narratives that are simultaneously arcane yet familiar, personal yet universal. In his free re-workings of Romantic and Expressionist tropes, Althoff evokes the rich history of painting before him while creating images all his own.
In the present work, Untitled, Althoff depicts a domestic scene through a wispy composition and visible brushstrokes. The scene invites the viewer into what appears to be a ceremonial ritual of washing or bathing. The composition, which juxtaposes the larger figure in black in the foreground with the smaller remaining figure dressed in white, gives the sense that the viewer is nearly amongst them. Althoff commonly flattens the subjects in his works in angles that both confuse the viewer as to his vantage point and simultaneously brings him into a scene of confessional intimacy. The nuanced and curved figures featured in the present work portray a sense of intimacy and solemnity to the scene, underscoring the feeling of ceremony and reverence. Althoff proves here that the power of spiritualism and mysticism inherent in the work are not lost, and are arguably even stronger, due to the ambiguity of the figures and their actions.
"To 'feel it all' for Althoff, is to explore the manifold possibilities of human subjectivity and the complex range of emotions, responses, and beliefs that enable life to go on, even under great duressAlthoff's literary imagination does more than describe its protagonists; it inhabits the characters he creates. Their visual rendering is a form of enactment through which their stories are allowed to unfold." (N. Baume, Kai KeinRespekt (Kai NoRespect), ICA Boston, 2004, pp. 33-34.)
In the present work, Untitled, Althoff depicts a domestic scene through a wispy composition and visible brushstrokes. The scene invites the viewer into what appears to be a ceremonial ritual of washing or bathing. The composition, which juxtaposes the larger figure in black in the foreground with the smaller remaining figure dressed in white, gives the sense that the viewer is nearly amongst them. Althoff commonly flattens the subjects in his works in angles that both confuse the viewer as to his vantage point and simultaneously brings him into a scene of confessional intimacy. The nuanced and curved figures featured in the present work portray a sense of intimacy and solemnity to the scene, underscoring the feeling of ceremony and reverence. Althoff proves here that the power of spiritualism and mysticism inherent in the work are not lost, and are arguably even stronger, due to the ambiguity of the figures and their actions.
"To 'feel it all' for Althoff, is to explore the manifold possibilities of human subjectivity and the complex range of emotions, responses, and beliefs that enable life to go on, even under great duressAlthoff's literary imagination does more than describe its protagonists; it inhabits the characters he creates. Their visual rendering is a form of enactment through which their stories are allowed to unfold." (N. Baume, Kai KeinRespekt (Kai NoRespect), ICA Boston, 2004, pp. 33-34.)