Paco Knöller : Atemblau - Spendel, Mareike; von Amelunxen, Hubertus (Berlin : Galerie Thomas Schulte, 2018)
The sky, the sea, a lake. Blue is the color that withdraws, that surrounds us but is intangible, like the air and the water we need to live. Paco Knöller dedicates his exhibition Atemblau to the color blue. From March 17 until April 21 at Galerie Thomas Schulte the artist presents new large-format works in oil crayon on wood as well as new drawings from his cycle “Aufwachraum”, which the artist began in 2015. In a corner of his airy and bright studio in Berlin-Kreuzberg Paco Knöller has created an archive: On top of a large worktable lies an arsenal of hundreds of oil crayons, which the artist has collected over the years while travelling to different countries. Knöller arranges them according to colors and to emotions respectively. Some of the crayons are still unused, the paper labels on others are hardly legible anymore, some of the chalks are only leftovers in the shape of tiny, crumbly, but glowing stumps. For Knöller, color is a pre- and extra-linguistic means of expression and communication. With his large triptych Lidrand des Sees (Engl. eyelid of the lake) for example, the artist through the color blue establishes a relationship, creates a kinship between the lake and the eye gazing at it. Although Knöller’s triptych is abstract, one feels reminded of Monet’s water-lily paintings. As with Monet, the gaze wanders aimlessly across Knöller’s triptych diving into its endless blue. Spatial orientation is impossible, the lake only mirrors the vastness of the sky. The brittle, splintering, searching lines, which Knöller by removing the top layer of paint with his knife inscribes into the emerging fields of color, come to determine the direction and the pace. Following these lines, our eyes hesitantly move across the picture plane, pausing wherever lines, dots and different layers of paint alternate or condense into abstract bodies. (from publisher)
Paco Knöller : Atemblau, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, 17 march to 21 april 2018
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Keywords: Knöller, Paco