COUNTERSHADING

 Peter Kogler, Leni Michl, Anne Neukamp, Jonny Niesche
curated by Lotte Puschmann

JAN 13 — FEB 26, 2022

Did you ever have the feeling of something unknown approaching you?

A feeling that something is there before you are able to see it? Maybe sometimes a calm and beautiful surface leads us to underestimate the potential below. If we take a closer look and follow our intuition one can see how the full power unfolds. 

This notion could also be applied to the phenomena of “Countershading“: a biological method of camouflage that has been used by animals for millions of years. The animals’ skin is darker on the upper side and lighter on the underside of the body, it countershades the natural shadows in order to appear invisible. A famous exponent is the shark, which can thus approach its prey unnoticed. 

This strategy is also eponymous for the work „2 Fische“ by Leni Michl. What seems like a joke at first turns out to be a subtle and smart way of self protection. To Michl, humour is a distraction from reality and can be used to adapt to a threatening situation. The perception of Michl’s work may start with a smile, but it also points towards our dealings with crisis in general. 

Anne Neukamp’s works are also very ambiguous. She uses the signs and things which we know from our daily lives, from pop culture. By turning them into paintings she re-contextualizes them and makes them shed their former function. Despite the familiar formal character of the symbols, our reading of them eludes us, as they appear in a different, unfamiliar context. She distorts the objects, repeats them and makes them more abstract. This way she connects abstraction and figuration, plays with the viewers as they become less and less likely to recognise the objects. By decontextualization and displacement she transforms the mundane into a riddle.

Peter Kogler’s work continues in the formal footsteps of minimalism with its repetitive gestures and forms that generate serialism and infinity. The patterns, tubes and insects – which are central in his work –  reflect the flow of information, the global network of people. 

The psychedelic effects of endlessness and infinity leave the viewer disorientated with its own infinity and endlessness. The central sculpture in the untitled work shown here seem to set the whole surface of the room in motion. The movement passes from the wall to the viewer and is almost physically noticeable. The question arises: Whose hand is it? 

Jonny Niesche’s work contains more than its bold and beautiful appearance. Expanding into a gradient they create a spiritual quality. As the painting goes beyond the picture frame, it creates a field where the viewer is both dislocated and deeply connected with which results in a powerful existential experience. There is also an important performative quality in his works: The paintings respond to the space and light as well as to the viewer. They complete themselves with and through the viewer and their reflection. The performative aspect of Niesches works is created not only through the reflection of the viewer and the space, but also by the pulsating bright surfaces immersing and destabilising the person in space. 

The works shown in “Countershading“ share one important common characteristic: All of them are embedded in a field of pop cultural references and codes. We have to rely on our feelings and intuition to recognise what lies beneath their surface. We should trust it- in order not to be the prey. 

Lotte Puschmann