translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville,
210211: Bawag Contemporary Luisa Kasalicky - en suite
Bawag Contemporary
Luisa Kasalicky - en suite
10.02.11 – 24.04.11
Minimalism from the DIY Market
Oh, how the goods offered in DIY markets determine our life style. Who needs interior designers if you can find everything in a DIY market? Even parts needed for the gruesome craft of destruction can be found here - to be precise: DIY markets even sell parts needed to assemble a bomb.
It doesn’t come as a surprise that fine arts make use of such a rich offer. Luisa Kasalicky, born 1974 in Prague and living in Vienna, is well acquainted with this cosmos of serial produced ready-made objects. She uses materials such as tiles, linoleum or diverse insulation materials, as well as parts of tubes or fences and supports for staircase railings.
Naturally, such transferal operations between everyday and exhibition situations are simulated. And of course there's a traditional streak along the way: Minimalism. But it's strikingly clear upon which exciting moments the artist builds up her actual "En Suite" exhibition from a triangle of form, material and meaning. When Kasalicky works with roofing felt, then, amongst other things, a starry cosmos comes to life that reminds one of a photogram, a paper pattern or even perhaps a map. When she uses parts of a fence or balcony railings, these have ornamental character while, at the same time, retaining the original purpose. That makes Kasalicky's work so interesting and shows that it only functions under the paradigm of rigid precision. On the other hand, her drawings appear to be a collection of ideas.
It's characteristic for this modus operandi that invariably, there will be moments of the cultural history of the used materials or inherent associations referring to their intended use. After all, it involves industrial findings, which are mass-produced for a market and thereby - apart from the usage context - are produced from certain ingrained ideas from the sales side. At the same time, the cohesion of this work is developed through the extremely high degree of formalization. As a result, there are two moments of irony, the central focus, however, lies in the creation of formal tension and the question of the relation of form and function. Almost a little outmoded. But aren't quality and approach formed exactly from this recalcitrance? One should certainly come to grips with this first institutional solo exhibition of the artist.
By Roland Schöny
Bawag Contemporary
1010 Vienna, Franz Josefs Kai 3
http://www.bawagcontemporary.at
Opening hours: daily from 2 p.m. – 8 p.m.
210211
BAWAG P.S.K. Contemporary
1010 Wien, Franz Josefs Kai 3
http://www.bawagpskcontemporary.at
Öffnungszeiten: täglich 14-20h
BAWAG P.S.K. Contemporary
1010 Wien, Franz Josefs Kai 3
http://www.bawagpskcontemporary.at
Öffnungszeiten: täglich 14-20h