Teilen
080310: A feast for the eyes – Food in still life
Bank Austria Kunstforum
A feast for the eyes – Food in still life
10.02.10 – 30.05.10
Top-notch
Admittedly: the exhibition “A feast for the eyes – food in still life” is debatable. Is it really necessary to accompany the exhibition with a gourmet dish and publish recipes in the catalogue, such as Johanna Maier’s “Green Apple Sorbet served with Champagne Soup” which, of all things, is positioned next to a rather nightmarish still life by Maria Lassnig?
Curator Heike Eipeldauer collected still lifes - ranging from their beginnings to contemporary examples: one embarks with the “Birth of a still life”, among others with the “Holy Family” by Joos van Cleve (1515): an arrangement showing a citrus fruit, a knife and a cup, which only serves as a requisite for the scene. In Pieter Arten’s “Christ at Maria and Martha’s” a large piece of meat takes the foreground, while the scene recedes.
In other examples, the still life is perceived as an artistic field for experimenting: highlights being works by Willem Klaf or Rudolf Wacker. Martha Rosler’s “Kitchen Semiotics” are positioned in connection with the genre “a female coded room”, similar to the paintings by Paula Modersohn-Becker or Berthe Morisot. Christian Ludwig Attersee’s once existing humour becomes apparent in the meat-department: in his pop-art painting beautifully manicured fingers are draped with ham and arranged as tasty canapés.
Maybe the exhibition could have been more compact and smaller. But all in all, the project offers a good overview of this popular genre and at the same time offers new approaches. Additionally, the project distinguishes itself by combining Old Masters and contemporary art without being zealous. What would we do without the Kunstforum?
By Nina Schedlmayer
Bank Austria Kunstforum
1010 Vienna, Freyung 8
Tel: 01 711 91 57 42
http://www.kunstforumwien.at
Opening hours: Tue – Sun 10.00 a.m. – 7 p.m.
080310
Bank Austria Kunstforum
1010 Wien, Freyung 8
Tel: +43 1 537 33 26, Fax:
Email: office@kunstforumwien.at
http://www.kunstforumwien.at
Öffnungszeiten: Mo-So 10.00-19.00 h
Fr 10.00 - 21.00 h
Bank Austria Kunstforum
1010 Wien, Freyung 8
Tel: +43 1 537 33 26, Fax:
Email: office@kunstforumwien.at
http://www.kunstforumwien.at
Öffnungszeiten: Mo-So 10.00-19.00 h
Fr 10.00 - 21.00 h
