2011 Together – Art & Design: Franz Riedl

Titelbild zur Ausstellung von Franz Riedl bei Nin Prantner Mikado II

1st exhibition of the exhibition series “Together – Art & Design” a project of the Viennese furniture designer Nin Prantner in collaboration with the art historian and free Kuartor Lucas Cuturi.

The starting point for Franz Riedl’s works is the white surface of the paper, which cannot be determined formally or in terms of content for the time being. But already the first cut into the paper gives the picture a direction. The further procedure then leads to a condensation of the cuts – meaning emerges. The structuring of the cuts functions like a guide through the pictorial space. Through the bulging and impressions at the interfaces, the “indefinite zero surface”, as the artist calls it, is broken up, creating a before and behind.
Riedl thus creates a relief-like three-dimensional pictorial space from an originally two-dimensional material. The interplay of light and shadow creates an impression of depth, and the monochrome white paper appears to be a kind of black-and-white drawing.
In Riedls works with the picture titles “Mikado” one can recognize his, in the truest sense of the word, playful approach.
Driven by a strong interest in public space, the artist deals, among other things, with various forms of boundaries. He deals, for example, with fences, markings or places such as roads and [sense] motorway junctions, which have both separating and connecting character. Anyone who has ever stood in front of a motorway knows what a major obstacle it can be.
The exhibition also features some of Riedl’s fencing works. In general, fences are always perceived in a positive and a negative context. In general, fences are mainly used to enclose areas or to protect them from uninvited guests, but also for the purpose of imprisoning someone or something. This is also the case with the network of so-called motorway fences, which are intended to keep the traffic noise away from residents, but at the same time block the unobstructed view of the landscape.

Text: Lucas Cuturi

Duration of exhibition: 25 January 2011 to 21 February 2011

Links: www.nin.at, www.franzriedl.com