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Lot Essay
“Althoff’s disturbing visual narratives are both invocation and exorcism at once. The thin line between introverted retreat and the explosion of mental and physical violence is always present.” (O.Koerner von Gustorf, "Super Creeps: Cruising through the work of Kai Althoff," Parkett, vol 75, 2005, p. 99)
Lurid and blearily seductive, Kai Althoff’s Untitled (Immo), 2004, evokes a sense of wanton sensuality and decaying opulence. Executed in hazy crimson, creamy yellow and rich mauve hues, the composition seems almost to melt before the viewer, its layers of paint dissolving into one another. Closer inspection reveals tight webs of cracking, blemishes, scrapes and voids—imperfections that compliment as well as complicate the picture’s voluptuousness. As if to further insist on the complex beauty that attends ruin, the artist has chosen an elegantly battered gilt frame with round edges to fit the painting.
Althoff is renowned for his self-consciously dandyish persona and deeply intimate approach to art-making. He has been quoted as saying that his practice is simply an extension of childhood play, a solipsistic form of expression for its own sake, or at most a means of impressing someone on occasion (D. Diederichsen, “Kai Ailthoff,” Artforum, January 2017, p. 210). But what would seem to be a flippant confession is truly an artfully rendered obfuscation. Althoff’s work transcends mere narcissism by offering the viewer shimmering glimpses of dislocated worlds, each teeming with its own unique nostalgia and coded allusions. In Untitled (Immo), two luxuriously dressed women—apparently in the midst of a lavish party—call to mind the excessive celebrations of the roaring 20’s, fin-de-siècle aesthetics, and Victorian-era fashion. Both figures peer beyond the left edge of the picture plane, mouths agape, as though something scandalous is occurring in that direction, inaccessible to the viewer. This feeling of impenetrable mystery is a crucial aspect of Althoff’s most powerful work.
Lurid and blearily seductive, Kai Althoff’s Untitled (Immo), 2004, evokes a sense of wanton sensuality and decaying opulence. Executed in hazy crimson, creamy yellow and rich mauve hues, the composition seems almost to melt before the viewer, its layers of paint dissolving into one another. Closer inspection reveals tight webs of cracking, blemishes, scrapes and voids—imperfections that compliment as well as complicate the picture’s voluptuousness. As if to further insist on the complex beauty that attends ruin, the artist has chosen an elegantly battered gilt frame with round edges to fit the painting.
Althoff is renowned for his self-consciously dandyish persona and deeply intimate approach to art-making. He has been quoted as saying that his practice is simply an extension of childhood play, a solipsistic form of expression for its own sake, or at most a means of impressing someone on occasion (D. Diederichsen, “Kai Ailthoff,” Artforum, January 2017, p. 210). But what would seem to be a flippant confession is truly an artfully rendered obfuscation. Althoff’s work transcends mere narcissism by offering the viewer shimmering glimpses of dislocated worlds, each teeming with its own unique nostalgia and coded allusions. In Untitled (Immo), two luxuriously dressed women—apparently in the midst of a lavish party—call to mind the excessive celebrations of the roaring 20’s, fin-de-siècle aesthetics, and Victorian-era fashion. Both figures peer beyond the left edge of the picture plane, mouths agape, as though something scandalous is occurring in that direction, inaccessible to the viewer. This feeling of impenetrable mystery is a crucial aspect of Althoff’s most powerful work.