Groupexhibition „Capacity of Line“

27.08 - 24.09.22

"Nothing is more concrete, more real than a line, than a color, than a surface," explain the members of the concrete art group, founded in 1930.

The group exhibition "Capacity of Line" invites us to discover five artists who continue this movement through new works that combine abstraction, symbolism, dynamics and technique. The artists Magdalena Bolego, Luise von Roheden, Flavio Senoner, Daniel Mirchev and Egon Digon, the line as a starting point and source of inspiration.

Geometric abstraction, developed in the 1910s, takes its inspiration from the line, a clearly recognizable line, or a line that limits surfaces. While geometric abstraction is based on an elaboration of forms and lines, concrete art goes even further and uses the systematization of geometric forms as a means of design.

These abstract art movements have undoubtedly opened up endless perspectives in art that have remained inexhaustible to this day. Over the last century, they have demonstrated their vitality, reinvented themselves and expanded their field of expression in line with technological progress. As a parallel expression to representational art, abstraction has enriched the entire 20th century and beyond.

In addition to its aesthetic and visual nature, abstraction is also a source of symbolic reflection. The artist always tried to break new ground in consciousness, to gain insights from the abysses of uncertainty. Dynamism and perfection in execution benefited the goal of expressing a spiritual, intellectual design. The created, abstract compositions and structures are essential traces of a counter-world, a "turbulence in infinity" that is never without connection to the real world.

The abstract artistic positions gathered in the exhibition "Capacity of Line" pose questions about the possibilities and immensity of abstract art. They are connected by the exploration of the potentials of line and form. Partly this is done in a consistently analytical, almost, mathematical way, partly also oscillating between concept and chance. The properties of the line are always questioned, crossed and redefined. Rhythm and dynamics determine their work. In this way, the artists show a new, lively of abstraction.

The dialogue with the viewer takes place in the immediate emotionality of the artistic compositions. They cause strong stimuli that affect the entire body of the respective observer beyond the sense of sight, and act as strategies of sensual irritation, overstrain and deception.

To the individual artists

Magdalena Bolego

The artist Magdalena Bolego condenses a spontaneous painting gesture that emerged from the unconscious into a swirling energy field. The liveliness of the fast execution is particularly evident in the infinite variation. The simultaneity of the unequal, the juxtaposition and overlapping of lines become vivid. The rhythm goes beyond a pure movement of the hand, the lines form into signs. Colorful lines, applied with a narrow or wide brush, determine the grid-like image structure. What we consider to be "lines" are, in fact, ways of the Mind. Bolego recruits the power of her works from the accumulated personal emotions and sensations. Her works are characterized by colorful paths of life. In doing so, the artist points to her artistic intention to convey her art as a positive statement to the world. Through her sensitivity, she succeeds in awakening optimistic suggestions in the viewer.

Flavio Senoner

Flavio Senoner's artworks call us to be viewed from different angles and at different distances. Senoner's rhythmic vibrations unfold in their shimmering, almost hypnotic effects when the viewer move in front of the artwork. Depending on the point of view, this arrangement changes its effect. Optical effects in the interplay of material, structure, movement, and light complete the substance of his art. He uses his technical knowledge to create artistic visual experiences. His interdisciplinary research with the natural materials wood and plaster, and the resulting harmonious works of art, guide us into it, in the rhythmic and regular cycle of nature.

Egon Digon

Starting from geometric shapes, Egon Digon explores the possibilities of distortion in his works. The compression and apparent thrust of the material wood, gains deformations and breaks the formal aesthetics of the original form. From his fascination with line, edge and form, he removes and elevates their validity. The shapes presupposes meticulous and lengthy production. Whereby one only recognizes the small parts and the form potential of the soft, full, and empty forms when approaching. Regarding the decomposition of geometry, visual illusions arise. Digon's work finds its fulfilment – be it as an irritation for the sake of irritation, or as a form for the sake of form. The irritation is at least as much a product of the viewer as of the work.

Luise von Roheden

Luise von Roheden's works result from an in-depth process of researching lines and their variation. The change in vibration is reflected in the white shimmer between the color spaces. In her meditative work process, von Roheden creates harmonious line movements. Dynamism and speedy execution benefit the goal of creating an spontaneous-looking design. Rest despite movement. Von Roheden's monochrome pictorial language awakens the seemingly unconscious. The monochrome dominates the paper. As a result, evenly curved, bright grey lines of delicate grey tones are laid. The lightweight, glazing paint application overlaps and creates connections and vibration. The resulting chiaroscuro gives the picture a peculiar spatiality that has a destabilizing effect and yet calms. Because in the informal, liberated gesture a search for order opens up. The artist creates a poetic spatial structure. The act of painting is always visible: the first touch of brush and paper, the movements and the decisive settling at the end – a serial process that finds its expression anew in every brush stroke.

Daniel Mirchev

A lively dynamic can be seen in the works of the artist Daniel Mirchev. His works oscillate between geometric-abstract art and contemporary design. In his elegant compositions, the line is the all-important component of the work process. Mirchev's practice is the exploration of the substance and effect of curved as well as straight lines. Grid structures and line structures can be read as analytical, abstracting, or intuitive translations of everyday suggestions. In this way, his works acquire a magical charm that gives rise to the metaphysical and transcendent. The artist uses his creative imagination and knowledge of geometry, space, compositions, and harmony to create his works. The accumulated materialized energy, escapes with great vitality, through lines and waves towards freedom.

In the exhibition "Capacity of Line", the artists parody his aesthetic self-image in the age of technological image production and distribution. In contrast, in their works, personal-emotional values are not switched off. The geometric marking reveals itself here as a kind of "topology of the soul", which is transferred in the dynamics of the system.

The artistic work of Magdalena Bolego, Flavio Senoner, Egon Digon, Luise von Roheden and Daliel Mirchev is a continuation of the unlimited practices of the line. It is a proof that the line will celebrate its debut, for eternity, again and again.