Galerie Dantendorfer
PETRA LUPE
tabula rasa
6 September – 11 September 2022
PARALLEL VIENNA 2022
Exhibition: tabula rasa @Parallel Vienna 2022
Artist: Petra Lupe
Period: 6 September – 11 September 2022
“Presumably, a maximum of abundance is contained within emptiness.”
(Lupe, 2022)
When tabula rasa (scraped tablet) is referred to here, it does not mean the soul of the newborn as imagined by ancient philosophers, which comes into the world like a blank page. Rather, it refers to an emptiness that already possesses a certain fundamental tone. Today, we are aware of a collective unconscious, genetic or systemic dispositions that impose a certain imprint on every human being from the very beginning. Understood in this way, tabula rasa resembles a paradox, inasmuch as its emptiness is already filled in its basic outlines.
Petra Lupe cannot help but incorporate the location into her presentation—the Semmelweis Women’s Clinic as a former place of childbirth—engaging with its fundamental tone and imprint, and taking this up thematically in the works on display.
Upon entering the space, two symbolically charged features immediately catch the viewer’s eye. On the one hand, there is the form of the circle, with Lupe’s open circles distinguished by their open circular shape. On the other hand, there is the color pink, reminiscent of the purity of the newborn.
At first glance, the presented works on paper reveal only their form; only upon closer inspection do the different imprints become apparent, ultimately unfolding their full force in colored acrylic glass objects. The color continues in the displayed schematic nude photographs, which recall the vulnerability of human existence. Finally, this wall is dominated by two large canvas works, IN UTERO, whose tonality and layering are modeled on the interior of the womb.
Ultimately, Lupe understands the artistic process itself as an act of giving birth. Situated between abundance and emptiness, the true artistic feat lies in imprinting it with a personal mark only to such an extent that a collective truth can still be found—one in which the viewer can see themselves reflected.
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