Bertram Hasenauer

Portrait and figure take centre stage

At the centre of Bertram Hasenauer's work is the portrait or figure, which, placed against a monochrome white or dark background, does not function primarily as a (naturalistic) likeness, but rather seeks to convey the idea of the portrait as such. At the same time, Bertram Hasenauer offers us a highly differentiated view of the respective young people, emphasising the enduring; everything spontaneous and dynamic has been removed from them, they appear androgynous and seem to float in space. In view of the almost metaphysical seeming distance from reality into which the figures appear to have been moved, art critics have utilised the concept of magical realism, which the artist has expanded to include a spiral of the enigmatic. Bertram Hasenauer uses pictures from journals and magazines as the basis for his work. He applies his colours like a thin film on a finely structured ground. The enigmatic impression of what, according to the artist, "appears to be a portrait turns out to be the idea of a possible portrayed figure; what appears to be the image of a human figure immediately disappears into the vague spheres of the memory of a figure."

Exhibitions:
Kunsthalle Memmingen, 1/4 - 23/7/2023
Ebensperger Gallery, Vienna, 28/3 - 30/6/2023