Florin Kompatscher and the post-pre-representationality

The seemingly random and spontaneous lines and formations in the paintings of Florin Kompatscher are reminiscent of an airy constellation of individual, yet corresponding comic panels. Recently he has taken this to the extreme and developed it into a ­spatially perceptible, accessible construct in the world of symbols – from panel painting and wall ­painting to sculpturally formed lineatures. Yet another explorer of the phenomena of a visual subjectivity is Albert Oehlen – both painters, Kompatscher and Oehlen, know and appreciate each other, and Oehlen likewise juxtaposes the invariably dominant abstraction of his painting with isolated figurative ­elements. Both thus abrogate a tradition that saw abstraction in strict opposition to illusionistic representationalism in painting. Oehlen coined the wonderful term of »post-non-representationality« for this; with Kompatscher this can be expanded to the even more paradoxical concept of »post-pre-representa­tionality«. Or simply said, according to Merleau-Ponty: »Nothing is more difficult than to know precisely what we see.«

Exhibitions:
Galerie Elisabeth und Klaus Thoman, Vienna, 3/9 – 23/12/2021
Galerie Haverkampf & Leistenschneider, 7/1 – 12/2/2022