Joseph Zehrer

Many of the recent works by German artist Joseph Zehrer employ decalcomania. In his personal interpretation of the technique, which was adopted and developed by the Surrealists, Zehrer transfers acrylic paint from one sheet of Plexiglas to the next. The results are “indirect paintings” depicting random forms resembling imaginary landscapes, or skin with fine, nervelike lines.

Also taking up the folk tradition of reverse-glass painting, Zehrer creates “pictures by chance”—mono- and multichromatic reverse-Plexiglas paintings, mounted on the walls and also built up as slender and minimalist freestanding steles. All the works on view are somewhat anthropomorphic, but with their smooth and reflecting Plexiglas surfaces they also call to mind technology. The steles Blacks, Whites, and Egoplastic (all works 2009)—which are the color of dark skin, pale skin, and silver, respectively—could be interpreted as maximally abstract representations of the human body.

“Sucher” is not only the exhibition title but also the name of one of the abstract Plexiglas paintings. Here, and also in the green monochrome Lost, Zehrer has engraved rectangular frames—like camera viewfinders—into the front sides of the Plexiglas panes, hereby “finding” and examining details of the amorphous image world visible through the glass.

The trio of light sculptures Modern Talking illustrates the artist’s intent to humorously connect technology, life, and communication. White light is sent from a diode through curved Plexiglas rods that are mounted, like microphones, on stands. On its way, the light becomes tinted yellow, red, and green by thin pieces of painted glass that Zehrer has placed between the light source and the rods. Given that similar-looking fiber-optic cables are normally used by telecommunication companies as channels for data transfer, Modern Talking can be understood as a contemporary “techno-sculpture” taken directly from daily life.