Klaus-Martin Treder: YES–WHAT

Pictures - Objects - Posters

Klaus-Martin Treder (*1961) calls one series of his acrylic paintings "Loss of Orientation and Aesthetics". In contrast, however, his oeuvre is structured in three clearly distinguishable formats, so that loss of orientation can be understood more as the motif of the works and less as the operative basis of their creation. Firstly, there are the paintings and works on paper summarised as "pictures" in series and work groups, then the "objects" and finally the "posters". His work is full of self-referential and externally referential technical and discursive references. By freely combining the individual production steps, the artist uses montage to bring together skins of colour, slender cascades of drops or even clumsy garlands with dripped and poured colour grounds. Elements of the picture stand precariously off the surface, protrude or hang freely beyond the perimeter, only to start moving gently in a draught or threaten to fall off even when handled sensitively. This emphasises the object character that painted pictures inevitably have and at the same time raises the question of the space in which a picture presents itself and can be understood as a picture. The question of the effect and meaning of pictures is also intensified by the elements applied to the picture surface - a colourful arsenal of things that are familiar from everyday life: Sweets and candy, lipstick and shampoo, coffee beans and ties, asthma spray and paint tubes, even head and body hair. The unbridled colourfulness, which is neither expressive nor formalistic, is also striking. In the conceptual materialisation of the paint from the tube - "ready made", as it were! - painting is redefined here as an institution of art in its ontological status. In terms of design, the book follows the artist's concept of placing a four-page, differently coloured, but unprinted sheet section around every second printed sheet, thus creating a kind of contemplative "pause". In this way, this volume conveys the true pleasure of book art, namely having something in your hands to leaf through, to move and to pause for a moment.