Bert's Travels

Monday, June 8, 2009

ARNULF RAINER - Artist or Charlatan?

The "Artist" to end all "Artists"
Anything I will state in the following lines is, of course, my very own, personal opinion. Only concepts which may undergo scientific scrutiny will I call "facts" !! Everything else, pretty well, is "my opinion".
Having said that, let me talk to you about Arnulf Rainer.
Rainer, borne in 1929 is a world renowned Austrian painter.

Now let it be said, that Austria has produced more than its fair share of wonderfully talented artists in all the arts, specifically in the art of painting. I won't list any of them here. If you want to know about them, go to your local library or google "Austrian Painters"

Below here, you may see four of his works, which I photographed from a book of paintings called: The Power of the Picture. ( Die Macht des Bildes )

One of Rainer's methods of painting is to take one of his earlier paintings or a photograph and commence to "overpaint" this work. In other words, he will cover the earlier painting or photograph with paint. This, he claims, is a very slow process, since he has to observe the original work until a section "offends him"....then he will paint over this section, whereupon, one presumes, he waits until another section offends him, which he then quickly 'overpaints.'
In this way, finally, grows a mono-coloured canvass, with often a little corner not "overpainted", so as to see the original work.

The "artist", in other words takes a brush in hand, dips it into a can of paint and covers a photograph. Sometimes he does not bother to cover the entire area with paint, but simply defaces it with a few quick strokes, somewhat in the way "Zoro" slashed his "Z" into a tree or onto the chest of one of his hapless opponents.

The resulting work is then placed into a frame and exhibited in the most renowned galleries, to which people come in great numbers, pretending to be in total awe, paying sky high prices for an "original Rainer"

The owners of the chosen galleries presumably pay good money to "art critics" who then write in the most glowing terms about these creations. Let me translate for you some of these unreal tidbits of such utter nonesense:

"In a way, which in our time stands alone, his work is the expression of a spiritual world, for which language proves to be inadequate. Even the methods, the observation of form, the analysis of style being made available, make possible at best an approximation of the approximate."

What was this again? This sentence is constructed about as artfully as one of Rainer's paintings, and says just about as much.

Then Rainer painted among many many other "works of art" a painting he called: "Cross"
It, as you can see below, consists of a black square with black paint dripping off and onto another, smaller square. Read what the "Artist" himself says about this work and about "overpainting" in general:

"because of dissatisfaction I constantly corrected the pictures until they started to become darker and darker. So started, without large concepts the "overpaintings."

Another "art critic" allowed himself the following rhapsodic comment:

"The drama of the world reveals itself slowly, inexorably, into the silence of a secret, which possesses its superior power in being hidden." Again, please, what does that mean?

I could go on and on quoting nonesense which has been said or written about this body of work.

Let the next observation tell all:

Rainer then came up with something so audacious as to almost defy description:
He spread various colour paints onto a canvas, or a piece of paper, dipped his fingers into the paint and dragged them up and down and every-which-way. He called these abominations:
"Fingerschmierereien". Translated into English: "Fingersmearings"...
No high and mighy artistic titles to deceive the viewing public. No, he called them exactly what they are: "The artless smearing of fingers through paint."
It seems to me that he said to his admiring fans: "You are so utterly stupid, that you will pay me large sums of money, even though I tell you up front that these are simply "finger smears" , having nothing whatever to do with the creative process.

And of course, good old Arnulf was right. He is indeed one of the highest priced "Smearers of Paint" in all of Europe.

So, you tell me; Artist or Charlatan....there is no question in my mind.