Arnulf Rainer: Towards Overpaintings

Overview

This exhibition brings together a range of works by renowned 'Chaotic Painter' Arnulf Rainer. Co-founder of the ‘Hundsgruppe’ (Dog Pack) alongside Ernst Fuchs, Anton Lehmden, Arik Brauer, Wolfgang Hollegha, Josef Mikl and Maria Lassnig established in 1950, the group was heavily influenced by abstract expressionism, action painting, Surrealism, the ideas of the subconscious and the importance of psychoanalysis in Austria. Rainer’s own practice would further expand many of the group’s engagements. In particular, he was interested in the physicality of painting and the desire to break free from the conventions of traditional techniques. For the artist, this involved experimentations in the act of painting, privileging the generative process of physical interaction with the medium over a predetermined finished product.

The influence of Freud and psychoanalysis played an important role in Rainer’s longstanding fascination with and interest in mental health, finding inspiration in Surrealist automatism and gestural painting. For example, he often worked blindfolded and pushed himself to physical and mental extremes, walking on canvases with bare feet and smearing thick paint directly onto the surface with his hands. He frequently used the colour red to mask the bleeding that would result from cuts and abrasions while painting. The smeared application of the colour to canvas, conjuring thoughts of blood and violence, was related to concerns of the ‘Viennese Actionists’, whose works also used blood and the body in order to confront society with the harrowing tolls of the Second World War.

Concerns relating to religious theories and practices also run throughout his work. His interest, here, gave rise to his well-known series of 'Cross' paintings, taking their name from their unconventional cross-shaped canvases. In these works, he explored themes of ritual, redemption and sacrifice; a unique artistic investigation in their own right while also extending his previous fascinations with the primeval, madness, dreams and the unconscious.

The raw emotion and sense of instinct and spontaneity that is a hallmark of Rainer’s work is perhaps most evident in his 'overpaintings', which employ existing objects as the painting’s ground. On view in this exhibition are a number of examples, in which he has overpainted items drawn from his collections of antique books, tribal masks, photographs from popular culture and other objects. The formal and emotional impact of this technique is especially evident in his series titled Farce Faces, where Rainer used photographs of his grimacing face in extreme emotional states, and then obliterated them with violent strokes and built up layers of thick encrusted paint.

Curated by Sharjah Art Foundation Director Hoor Al Qasimi.