ARTIST STATEMENT
Michael Kopplstätter is a German artist who lives and works in Austria.
During his early years in New York he got to know the German artist Salome, an artist from the art movement, The New Wild (die Neue Wilde).
In the 1980s, Salome’s group was considered a counter-movement to prevailing conceptual art scene during which they shifted to painting. Needless to say, Michael Kopplstätter was infected by the spontaneous and expressive elements of the Neue Wilde at a young age.
The artist Michael Kopplstätter has been awarded with various Art Prizes. Numerous exhibitions including museums have featured his work in the past. His works are in different Art Collections in Germany, Austria, Swiss and USA.
The Paintings are mostly large format oil- and acrylic paintings which are simultaneously realistic and alienating. Shapes and contours are blurred, out of focus, distorted or alienated. However, the realistic impression is retained and is heightened by a dynamic color composition. In the centre of his work is the body and the body language in space and time.
Artist Statement
Art has always been a medium through which I explore the complexity of human emotions and connections. My work operates at the intersection of abstraction and expression, with each piece representing a dialogue between the inner self and the outside world.
Vision and themes
At the heart of my artistic practice is a fascination with the interplay of light, color, and texture, and at the center is the female figure, which vies for the viewer's memory, leaving them with a vague feeling that they sense something but do not know what lies beneath the surface. The prominent elements are perception and distortion.
My goal is to evoke feelings of nostalgia, contemporary appearance, and introspection, inviting the viewer to reflect on their own experiences.
My works often deal with themes such as identity, memory, and the passage of time, as well as the journey through space and time.
Techniques and materials
I use a variety of techniques, but the focus is on traditional painting methods in high-quality execution, such as those of the old masters, through to innovative approaches that incorporate mixed techniques. I choose precise imprematura techniques, wet-on-wet, and ultimately a distinctive style of various wiping techniques, sometimes extremely expressive and abstract, sometimes fine, flowing, blurred strokes to create textures that challenge the viewer's perception.
Process
My creative process is intuitive and spontaneous, allowing the work to develop organically. I often start with a foundation of raw emotions and layer colors and shapes on top of each other until the work achieves a harmonious balance. This process mirrors the unpredictability of life itself and reflects the beauty that can be found in chaos.
Ultimately, my goal is to create a visceral experience that resonates on a personal level. I believe that art has the power to foster connection and understanding, bridging the gap between people regardless of their background.
Conclusion
I hope that my work will evoke an emotional response that lingers long after viewing. I invite you to immerse yourself in the layers of my art and discover your own story within it. A journey through space and time, memories and being.
This artist statement reflects my artistic vision while appealing to viewers in a meaningful way and inviting them to explore the depths of my work.
An intoxicating mix of voyeurism, exhibitionism, and 21st-century existentialism exposes the intimate and unknown. Vulnerability, desire, control, floating, and flowing collide. The subject matter remains shadowy, blurred, and distorted—a tension between abstraction and distorted reality, a conflict between the self, emptiness, between frozen space and time, between what was and what is.
Artistic development
With my expressive and distinctive portrayal of the human figure, marked by longing and alienation, I address the depths of our time.
My works focus increasingly on the relationship between inner being and the body in motion.
In a characteristic visual language, I depict the human body confronted with bold and subversive energy, transformation, and flow.
From atmospheric motifs that appear strange and seductive due to their spherical and consistent symbolism, to blurred androgynous and gestural forms charged with surprisingly unusual abstract passages, recurring themes are brought to the pulse of the times: the face as a mask, the individual as a mirror, the self as a shadow.
The works dissolve unpredictable boundaries between inside and outside to create a unique experience of the figure.
Inside and outside of space and place, inside and outside of past time, phantom and present, as well as inside and outside of body and mind.
The artworks oscillate between primal and dynamic layers.
Brushstrokes dance between meticulous work and sometimes not so meticulous—rougher, more painterly materials are used than before, rough brushstrokes transform into blurred, dreamlike canvases with an otherworldly application, similar to ghost images or misty notions of what lies beneath.
CURATORS WORD
SIGNATURE BLURRED EXPRESSIONISM STYLE
The works are a modern abstraction of the human form.
Producing fragmented paintings that resemble emptiness in their depiction, he explores movement, the passage of time, and the human figure.
His haunting, phantasmatic paintings are haunting - you can almost hear the crackling of static electricity - and his subjects are intimately and emotionally depicted.
Taking inspiration from Rembrandt, Kopplstätter is a master at manipulating light, which in turn lends a baroque touch to his contemporary works.
A signature style that includes bands of pigment alternating between static, bold markings and blurry, flowing sweeps.
The human figure is central to his explorations, courting the viewer's memories and leaving them with a vague feeling that they've missed something that lies just beneath the surface.
PURPLE POP ART STYLE
The artist reveals the intimate and the uncanny in an intoxicating mixture of voyeurism, exhibitionism and 21st-century existentialism.
With a shock of garish colors contrasting with delicate flesh tones, Kopplstätter's distinctive palette hits the nerve of vulnerability, desire and control.
However, the theme remains shadowy - a tension between abstraction and distorted reality, a conflict between the self and the void.
