Iterations

Matthias Noggler

Info: Matthias Noggler’s paintings question the act of seeing. His figures are frontal, yet they are painted in a velvety blue color – as if by night itself, rendering their forms barely intelligible. They stand in formations, on provisional stages, arms linked – either confronting the viewer or turning their backs to them. They appear trapped within the frames, blurring into their surroundings, their bodies contorted to fit and pose. However, their stiffness and resoluteness have an activating quality, as if calling out the status quo of passive viewing. Noggler’s work has long been characterized by the appropriation of various historical references and painterly styles. In Iterations, the canvases are loaded with the knowledge about the failed potential of modernist political painting. In that fashion, Noggler’s figures demand attention and action, however, due to their reduced visibility, those very acts are hindered. The resulting works are abstracted images, which no longer hold hope for grand actions, but attempt to hold the viewer in an unresolved tension of perceiving.