Galerie Dantendorfer
CHRISTIAN BRANDTNER
Transformation
11 May – 29 June 2023
Exhibition: Transformation
Artist: Christian Brandtner
Period: 11 May – 29 June 2023
Found objects, animal bones, modeling clay – a world in transformation, where ever-new landscapes, creatures, and metamorphoses can be discovered. The exceptional Viennese artist Christian Brandtner creates his own microcosm.
Even as a child and teenager, Brandtner felt a strong affinity for drawing. After encountering the art of van Gogh, he began his own artistic practice, which ultimately led to his training as a theatrical painter. Alongside this professional activity, an independent body of artistic work developed, ranging from figurative painting and drawing to sculptural objects.
Brandtner is interested in opposites – surface textures, differences in form, or color contrasts – which stand symbolically for death and life, good and evil, above and below. Within these poles, recurring elements appear in his works, such as the egg, the clothespin, the eye, or the arrow. A visit to the artist’s studio quickly brings to mind a cabinet of art and curiosities. The objects impress not only through their diversity of materials and detailed craftsmanship, but also create an almost uncanny impression of being living beings.
The exhibition places a focus on the newest series Tardigrade, in which Brandtner engages with the 500-million-year-old tardigrades. Tardigrades are tiny animals measuring less than one millimeter, possessing the extraordinary ability to adapt to the most extreme living conditions. They survive in outer space, in the Arctic, or at the deepest point of the ocean. These creatures can drastically reduce their metabolic activity, entering a near-death state in which they can remain for decades. It is precisely this adaptability that inspired Brandtner: he transforms the resilient tardigrades into flying objects reminiscent of the scientific achievements of the 20th century.
The works from the series Ei-Transformation captivate through their intricate details. Eggshells, wood, wire, glass, leaves, and modeling clay are shaped into small art objects. In many religions and cultures, the egg symbolizes creation, life, and resurrection – thus it also finds its way into Brandtner’s work, becoming a fertile ground for new beings and forms.
Text: Selin Stütz
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