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Hanspeter Hofmann at Kunsthaus Glarus - Glarus, Switzerland
Art in America, Oct, 2003 by Mark Staff Brandl
This exhibition was an impressive presentation of six huge acrylic paintings by Hanspeter Hofmann that hover between abstraction and representation. They are the largest works the Swiss artist has created. The main display hall featured four pieces: one measuring 110 by 98 inches, one 126 by 90 inches and two at 98 by 276 inches. Two other 98-by-276-inch paintings were hung back-to-back, suspended diagonally across the center of an adjacent window-walled space.
Hofmann's work is distinctive, yet clearly related to that of Jonathan Lasker or David Reed. In these new works, he retains his signature palette of luminous pastel hues on monochromatic backgrounds, as well as his familiar layers of freely inscribed amoebic ovals. The amorphous, linear forms Hofmann creates have often been linked to his background as a chemical researcher. They suggest vastly enlarged microscope slides, consisting as they do of circumscribed loops gliding over one another in a watery space, sometimes allowing areas of coagulated paint to float between them. However, there is a new sense of expansiveness to the recent paintings, with hints of atmospheric perspective and large passages of unpopulated background hue. Additionally, the vast new scale brings the paintings enticingly close to the realm of installation, especially the two-faced diagonal unit. Furthermore, in a daring new development, Hofmann has applied enormous words or ready-made images made of press-on vinyl to a few paintings. One reads "hardcore," while another work sports a stick-on parrot. This bold augmentation of his range of forms is not fully resolved, but remains a promising area for future experimentation.
Hofmann's reputation has been on the upswing since his inclusion in several exceptional painting exhibitions organized by curator Peter Pakesch at Basel's Kunsthalle. These shows attracted a renewed attention to postmodern painting in Europe in general and Hofmann in particular. A number of curators contributed entries on Hofmann for this exhibition's catalogue--a beautiful book containing 10 short texts and 400 small reproductions. His paintings encourage our natural capacity to call forth cognate references--a distinctive strength of painting, yet one often renounced in the recent past.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
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