LIFE AFTER DEATH

"Images were first made to conjure up the appearances of something that was absent. Gradually it became evident that an image could outlast what it represented; it then showed how something or somebody had once looked—and thus by implication how the subject had been seen by other people." (10)
—Ways of Seeing by John Berger

"One of the reasons Solidarity's graphic artists were able to generate such powerful posters is that they could draw upon the matrix of succinct images with rich, common associations that Polish history had deeded them." (106)
—Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences by Lawrence Weschler

Molecular cohesion yields to isolated atoms yields to unbound particles, singular, favoring entropic freedom. Movement yields to stasis. The whole that never was disintegrates into components. The sum truly is greater than the whole. It always was, except that control gave the illusion of homogeneity.

The child and I visited the Frye Art Museum to view the exhibit Life After Death: New Leipzig Paintings from the Rubell Family Collection. The exhibit contains the work of seven artists who attended the Leipzig Art Academy in former East Germany. With the exception of one of the seven, all studied at the school after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Most have stayed in Leipzig even after their studies ended.

The paintings are filled with figures that are difficult to relate to, if there are figures at all; architectural that is tearing apart; landscapes that swallow us up; colors that confront; forms that threatens to overtake each paining; and, oftentimes, a nod to Surrealism. There is confusion between foreground and background; a messiness or rawness that invades some of the canvasses; and a sense of playfulness in the midst of existential despair or smallness. All of this was enough to keep the child engaged, in order that I could have time to sufficiently commune with the works.

The work of Neo Rauch was infused with bold, rich colors and strange, confusing, confrontational imagery. The figures that filled his canvasses appear unaware of one another. They are mixtures of eras—sometimes a mixture of the contemporary, the historical, the mythical.

The work of Christoph Ruckhäberle is also filled with figures who are unaware of one another, even though they are in close proximity to one another. Individual figures inhabit their own space, almost oblivious to the influence of the other figures upon them. It is as though planetary bodies are ignoring the effects of gravity. Some of the figures stare out at us, some avoid our gaze, some are completely unaware of even us as viewers—all are really unconcerned with being seen though.

The one piece by Tilo Baumgärtel was also the only large work that was not a painting; it was a 62.5 by 102 inch work of coal on paper. The coal may represent the industrial leanings of capital in East Germany. This work, Die Pause (The Pause), is also the only one of the larger works—because many small sketches and studies by Matthias Weischer were also present—absent color. It is another piece with figures who are somewhat "blind." These two figures, however, are really more part of the piece as a whole; they almost feel as part of the background.

The work of Tim Eitel is primarily of landscapes, mostly sparse or devoid of objects. The figures in the painting are either single or very small groupings, usually two. The figures are often turned away from us or indistinct. A piece of the paintings threatens to swallow up the figures, and sometimes even the landscape—and in the case of Container, a quarter of the painting is devoted to a gray rectangle that threatens even the painting itself. Eitel's works are the ones that really made me feel small and cold and weak—they confronted me with my existential failings.

The work of Martin Kobe consisted of architectural impossibilities. These canvasses were full of rich, bold colors and geometry run amok. Form is thrust to the forefront, such that it overpowers the landscape and the viewer. Windows open onto additional spaces, with windows that open onto additional spaces. Floors open onto another layer of building. Columns and posts support structures that are on the verge of collapse or on the verge of "building themselves."

The work of David Schnell is also primarily of similar landscapes, although it contains architecture that is sometimes possible, sometimes not. As the child observed, the images on his canvasses all feel "broken." These were some of the most visually engaging paintings for me. They made me think of environments I often find myself in and just how those spaces and places are "constructed."

The work of Matthias Weischer was the most intriguing to me and perhaps my favorite of the show. Sketches and studies for larger works were presented, as well as large canvasses. I especially liked his paintings. They tended to be renderings of rather ordinary rooms, such as the living room presented in St. Ludgerus, until you really start to pay attention and investigate. A splash of paint here and there brings a messiness to the expected cleanliness of the canvas surface. A pair of feet next to a couch reveal the outline of a figure waiting to burst through the picture—and upon closer inspection, there is a figure that has almost, but not quite, been completely painted over. These "ghosts" inhabit more than one of his works. Other paintings consist of a large, mostly empty room, with a corridor to the left. The corridor was intriguing enough to the child that she tried to look behind the paintings that contained it to see where it went. (She was also lightly scolded by one of the museum guards, along with her father by implication of momentary parental failure, for touching the wall, in order to better see the "phantom" corridor.)

The "specters" of communism, the Iron Curtain, and the Soviet Union are all present yet absent in these works. Transition, and the tension it brings, is also "addressed" by each of these artists. Perhaps transformation is a better description. Tensions between foreground and background, aesthetics and form, figure and landscape, individual and community, past and present, viewer and viewed are also examined.

Admission to the Frye is always free and the Frye is curating some of the best visual art that western Washington has to offer. I highly recommend a visit to the Frye to you, especially to experience Life After Death.