Catalogue ›Symbiosis‹ Lars Teichmann | Lachenmann Art

Catalogue for the solo exhibition by the artist Lars Teichmann ›Symbiose‹, which took place from September 30, 2016 to May 14, 2017 at the Galerie Lachenmann Art in Konstanz. Texts by Juliane Lachenmann, Christina Wigger and Anita A. Gödiker.

›Symbiosis‹ of Zurich and Constance

The parallel exhibitions in Germany and Switzerland offered interested parties the unique opportunity to visit both areas at the same time, just one hour apart: The Lachenmann Art gallery showed works by the Berlin artist Lars Teichmann in the solo exhibition "Symbiosis" in its premises on Lake Constance, while a second part of the exhibition ran in parallel in the historic rooms of the Satellite Office Business & Conference Center on Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich.

When you enter Lars Teichmann's studio, on whose walls hang large-format works from the Classics series, you feel as if you are in a dream that brings images from a time long past to your mind's eye. Let us go back in our minds to the 17th century, to a Spanish Baroque painter, Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, who worked as a portrait painter at the court of the Spanish King Philip IV. As one of the most important figures of his time, he was entrusted with the production of portraits of members of the Spanish court, with the king, the royal family and ministers being portrayed according to their rank, rank and position. Countless viewers are familiar with the stately portraits, the artificial testimonies of power, office and dignity, the "classics".

With “Classics”, Lars Teichmann successfully attempts to question figurative painting and current reception habits. With a respectful gesture, he dissolves the forms, the representatives of the court are freed from the burden of their symbols of power. Image construction and unleashed expressivity result in a tense balance within which the artist eliminates physiognomies with explosive drama, literally tears valuable brocade fabrics apart with paint and breaks open the figures, exposing the protagonists. The high-ranking personalities of the time are represented as a collective memory image through Lars Teichmann's transformation of their portraits: his “Classics” series is a reinterpretation of the great classical themes of portrait painting and gives it a new, centuries-spanning perspective on aesthetics and beauty.

Lars Teichmann has committed himself to this new direction. He dispenses with everything superfluous and anecdotal, leaves it behind the dark veil of centuries and, through this trick, raises the figure to new heights in its deep expressiveness. At the same time, he gives the recipient space for intellectual and mental freedom and their own interpretation, and allows him to be found omnipresent in his works.

Last but not least, the artist creates this effect by de-individualizing the figures; instead of beautified heads and clear facial features, the viewer looks into the bright, gleaming infinity of ever-present, universally valid human themes. Arrogance, hatred, status, pride and power ally with love, honor, humility and faith; time and transience become one.

Bright mists of color, like flashes of the past that remind us of a golden age of painting, make the figures appear purified in all their beauty and presence, and we sense that they were able to leave all superfluous trinkets behind them on their journey through time and space. The contours glow, the background light shining towards the viewer surrounds the figures with a halo that is elegantly restrained next to the sparkling flashes of light.

The viewer is faced with a clear, pure figure that contains everything that he himself carries within himself.

Lars Teichmann's works show us once again how human transience invariably expresses its truths.

On the exhibition ›Symbiosis‹