EXHIBITIONS
Erwin Bohatsch
Dates: Jan 25 – Feb 22, 2025
Location: Taka Ishii Gallery Kyobashi
Opening reception: Saturday, Jan 25, 17:00 – 19:00
Taka Ishii Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of the works by Erwin Bohatsch, from Saturday, January 25 to Saturday, February 22. Bohatsch is recognized as a leading figure in Austrian art history, particularly in abstract painting. Marking his first presentation in Japan and at the gallery, this show will feature nine paintings and thirteen works on paper from his recent œuvre.
Bohatsch’s work is characterised by a constant oscillation between figuration and abstraction, between colour and non-colour, and between line and surface. He circles around the still explosive question of the topicality of painting. In his current works, he now defines the pictorial field as a heterogeneous matrix on which, for example, sharply outlined forms meet open painting fields with roughly applied brushstrokes. Above all, his compact works on paper are experimental fields for new paths, which Bohatsch then implements on canvas.
Florian Steininger, artistic director of the Kunsthalle Krems
Dedicated to the exhibition “Erwin Bohatsch – 13 Bilder” at Österreichisches Kulturforum Prag
Although Bohatsch has been pursuing a distinctly individual and exemplary path through his career, his work is inseparable from the discourse of Austrian art of the late 70s to 90s. In the early 80s, when he emerged in the Austrian art scene, his paintings carried all features of “New Painting”, depicting motifs in organic forms and bleak colors. At the time, he became a member of the “Neue Malerei” (New Painting) group and was considered as one of the artists of Neue Wilde (neo-expressionism). By the late 1980s, the artist departed from this current and entered on abstract reduction, eliminating the narrative, figurative and expressive qualities of the paintings. This shift signaled a commitment to openness and clarity, hallmarks of his mature style.
The artist’s recent works exemplify his purist approach, emphasizing line, form, color, and materiality. Curved color planes, fine lines, and spontaneous marks combine to produce compositions rich with tension and rhythm. On the fields of earthy beige and black, bright colors such as green, yellow and blue are also used effectively within a limited area. The poured color, spread thinly with a spatula, forms a layer of translucent colored surfaces, creating new forms in the overlapping areas and sense of spatial depth on the painting.
Bohatsch’s works, in which multiple spatial structures unfold, will offer viewers an open and engaging visual experience.
Erwin Bohatsch was born in Mürzzuschlag, Styria in 1951 and is currently based in Vienna and Venice. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna from 1971 to 1976.
His major solo exhibitions include “Erwin Bohatsch”, Albertina, Vienna (2016); “Verläufe/Gradients”, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz (2006); “Intuition und Form. Erwin Bohatsch – Adrian Schiess”, Sammlung Ploner, Vienna (2006); “Strömung/Current. Erwin Bohatsch – Manfred Wakolbinger”, Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg (2006); Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Vienna (1999). His major group exhibitions include “wo man sich trifft”, Emsdettener Kunstverein, Emsdetten (2023); “The Drawing Centre Show”, Le Consortium, Dijon (2022); “Abstract Painting Now!”, Kunsthalle Krems (2017); “Malerei im Wandel Die Sammlung Ploner”, Neue Galerie Graz (2016); “Abstraktion in Österreich 1960 bis heute”, Albertina, Vienna (2015); “Selbstverständlich Malerei!”, Sammlung Ploner, Orangerie, Unteres Belvedere, Vienna (2015); “Das Jahrhundert der kunstlerischen Freiheit. 100 Jahre Wiener Secession”, Secession, Vienna (1998); “An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture”, Museum of Modern Art, New York (1984); “Zeitgeist”, Martin Gropius-Bau, Berlin (1982).
