Rainer Spangl

• 09.03.–16.04.2023

Galerie Martin Janda presents the first solo exhibition of Rainer Spangl.

Rainer Spangl's series of works are based on figuration but come very close to abstraction through permanent repetition of motifs with small changes. Spangl speaks of a “sober on-off relationship to abstraction” that is already inherent in the process of creating the works. They depict motifs from his private and public environment: views of a face, of plants as well as planes of colour that evoke atmosphere or skin. The rigour of seriality corresponds to the intensive and almost obsessive painting process.

In the ongoing series of facial fragments, the gaze of the eye in the painting passes the viewer and interacts with the space. The works differ only in the position and angle of the eye, the colour temperature and the relationship between light and shadow. Paintings of winter roses and the Pilea peperomioides form another group of works. Similar to the paintings of faces, Spangl chooses a section of motifs based on compositional decisions. The depicted plants evoke a vastness beyond the pictorial space. An ensemble of abstract paintings forms an additional block of works in Spangl's painterly exploration. The works, here in small format, depict nuances of colour in their interplay on the pictorial surface. Colour is treated as a composition tool and acts in relation to the picture format and its physical boundary.

The repeated use of the same subjects reveals the aspect of temporality in Spangl's work. His recourse to motifs that have already been depicted is always accompanied by a shift in perspective and therefore also in meaning. Spangl's paintings are not a pure objectification, but an observation of his immediate surroundings characterised by intimacy and intensity.