Spot On: Jana Euler & Thomas Eggerer / Spot On: Josh Smith

Spot On: Thomas Eggerer and Jana Euler
Large painterly gestures and appearances are often deemed to be male. Characteristics, format, the application of paint, but also motifs, even whole painting styles—just think of abstract expressionism, for instance—are linked to an idea of masculinity. This resulted in a self-concept of painting that was fed equally by both painters and viewers. In their works, Jana Euler and Thomas Eggerer allude in very different ways to such painterly forms of expression of male dominance.

Euler’s “GWF” series (2019), in which the artist portrays large-format sharks, serves these painting clichés, while at the same time torpedoing them. The phallically erupting bodies no longer appear threatening, but rather frightened. Instead of sovereignty and power, the fear-inducing subject itself exudes insecurity and weakness. The painterly variations that Euler goes through in the process become part of the argument. The “Great White Fear,” the white man’s fear of the unknown other, pushes its way to the forefront. The sharks, with their anthropomorphised faces, become a humoristic reflection of various neuroses—an expression that can be transferred to a paradigm shift affecting the whole of society.

With his work Waterworld (2015), Eggerer appears to present the maximum contrast to the aggression located in Euler’s works. His bathers wade and paddle quietly through the water, recalling scenes of bourgeois strolls from the history of modern painting. However, his figures look almost identical, and all spatial perspective is removed by the water, which occupies the entire area of the picture. In this way he breaks the impression of a social structure: what remains is the isolated parallel existence of exclusively white male figures. Their supposed individuality is countered by a uniformity which—not without irony—can be applied to many social structures.

Spot On: Josh Smith
Since 2001, Josh Smith has placed one single motif or an isolated visual idea at the focus of his paintings series. His repertoire of subjects includes such different themes as sunsets, stop signs or his own signature. Sometimes, Smith presses two still-wet canvases together so that one picture becomes the partial imprint of the other and vice versa. Through the reproducibility of motifs by means of painting, the artist generates a feeling of equal value of pictures that actually promise to be unique.

Although the painterly gesture might at times appear dominant on the picture’s surface, the act of repetition directly disrupts its significance. For Smith himself, the resulting impression of an expressive gesture is “the by-product of a process […]. Every expression is sent through a filter, an ‘expression filter,’ in order to get a logical result. It is not only pure and free, but also somehow justified and logical.” By depriving his subjects of uniqueness through reproduction, Smith removes the personal charge from the painterly gesture. Thus painting is questioned by its own means.

Smith’s collages are also borne by this attitude. The compilation of different source material is a promise to the viewers that the subjective view of the artist is revealed in the picture. But those who hope to discover something personal behind the posters, invites or menus will be disappointed. And just like in the expressive painterly gesture, here too the technique itself becomes the central artistic concept. Even such an individual element as the artist’s handprints on bar stools seem standardised when repeated. It becomes a sign in itself, which does not aim to express anything particular, but which rather speaks about something.

Curator: Monika Bayer-Wermuth

Under the title "Spot On," recently acquired groups of works by various artists are shown in two galleries on the ground floor and in the media galleries on the lower level. These single- and double-presentations rotate over the anniversary year and the accompanying exhibition Forever Young – 10 Years Museum Brandhorst.

#MBForeverYoung

The exhibition is supported by
PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e.V.
HEJPIX GmbH & Co. KG

Media partner: ARTE

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