The artist's paintings show animal-like creatures reminiscent of myths and legends that might themselves be protagonists of a saga. They posses dark aesthetics, similar to the impression of a dangerous but strangely bewitching underwater animal.
Gmortox. Paintings, drawings and sculptur
Sebastian Gögel’s universe is populated by monstrous creatures, which on one
hand emanate
a miraculous, even child-like charm, on the other hand, however, look dark
and menacing.
Sebastian Gögel’s paintings show animal-like creatures reminiscent of myths
and legends that
might themselves be protagonists of a saga. They posses dark aesthetics,
exercising an
attraction as strange as it is engrossing, similar to the impression of a
dangerous but strangely
bewitching underwater animal behind a thick aquarium window pane from which
you just can’t
take you eyes off. The latent aggressiveness resonating in the pictures
emerges from emotion:
“I feel like these creaturesâ€, Gögel explains, “they are portraits of
interpersonal subtleties.â€
His figures grow out of themselves, are created without prior sketches.
Aiming at the closest
possible approach to his intuition, he coats the canvas in layers and layers
of colour, each new
brushstroke is like a confession of failure, covering something that should
not exist like it does.
This way to approach motives intuitively is characteristic for the young
Leipzig painter.
Consequently, his paintings are many things at a time: beautiful, but
creepy, calm but
aggressive - the blue Collector, whose velvety outlines are silhouetted
against the background
like downy feathers and remind one of a dove’s or an angel’s wings, is
crushing the heads of
the small black figures it is holding in his hand.
The basic idea of simplifying complex structures and coherences but still
permitting a wide
range of possible interpretations can be found in Sebastian Gögels
sculptural work alike, for
instance in his 7 feet high “Dark Planet†and his strange interior.
With his “intermediariesâ€, small, three-legged and long-nosed friendly
figures made of rigid foam,
he creates a simple but in this simplicity extremely comprehensive system
for depiction of
social relations. The seven edgeless figures looking “like huge key fobsâ€,
are wild cards
for any possible interpersonal screenshots and can be combined freely. Gögel
makes one
intermediary stand on the noses of three others and calls it “ Birthdayâ€,
makes one stand a little
aside and calls it “Maverickâ€.
With the miraculous, partly almost child-like charm coming from Sebastian
Gögel’s works, the
young artist constructs that kind of allusions of a universal truth which is
more to be felt than
to be known, less even to be understood, but which in spite and because of
this fascinates
each generation anew and which to seek is an eternal and never-ending
process - “for thisâ€,
Sebastian Gögel explains, “is what art is about - being immortalâ€.
Image: Sammler, 2005, oil/acrylic on canvas, 260 x 185cm
Opening reception: Thursday, Nov. 3rd, 2005, 7 p.m. The artist will be present.
Galerie Adler
Hanauer Landstraße 134 - Frankfurt
Opening Hours: Tue, Wed 3 to 6 p.m., Thu, Fri 12 to 7 p.m. Sat 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and upon appointment