03 Jun 2013

Doris Piwonka / Kerstin Cmelka. Art and Life Form at Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien (KM–), Graz

The artistic practice of Doris Piwonka is a prime example of painting that is cognisant of one's own historical conditions, but also of the present-day situation. Moreover, it stands for the pursuit of a discourse on contemporary painting, which is asserted with faith in the renewable, aesthetic, and visual energies inherent to the medium. In Piwonka's first institutional solo exhibition, held at the Künstlerhaus KM– in Graz, an exemplary selection of paintings from several work complexes and creative periods will be on show, extending beyond a purely formal interest in painterly matters.

At the centre of Kerstin Cmelka's eclectic, multimediatic re-stagings of historical material taken from film, art, and theatre shown in the exhibition Art and Life Form, an interest in filigree subversion and an exploration of fractures can be discerned. The involvement of fellow artists in these re-stagings leads to (re-)doubling in the construction of a usually fragile complicity with the viewers. The newly negotiated assertions, apparent here, between the poles of art and life are shown mingling, and a reflexive meta-commentary on exceedingly free interpretation is always also staged as well.

On 7 June a free shuttle service will be offered as part of the CMRK exhibition openings at Camera Austria, < rotor >, Grazer Kunstverein, and KM– (all exhibitions will have extended opening hours on this day from 6–10 p.m.): departure Vienna, 3 p.m., Opera, IKEA parking lot; return departure, Graz, 11:30 p.m., KM–, Burgring 2.