Ralf Weingart
Beach (2004)
Matthias Kanter's new series _Strand" ("Beach") was inspired by his visual experience on a private beach in the seaside resort of Warnemünde on the German Baltic coast: Contemplating the alleys of canopied double-seated wicker beach chairs ("Strandkorb"), so typical for the German Baltic and North Sea coast, he realised how a standardised commodity, distinguishable by the colours of paint and individual signs of tear and wear only, can become an indirect "portrait" of its users.
Kanter abstracts his perception of the original graphic motive into a sketch-like window, making it the source of his own chromatic research; the "dialogue of colours" becomes the actual tenor of the imagery.
Matthias Kanter's conceptual approach has already been formulated in Marcel Duchamp's radicalised notion of "choice" as an act of art sponsoring: Before paintings are finally "released" anyone who is interested in buying may select his or her "own". With the purchase, the buyer's initials will become an integral part of the painting's title, officially documenting the affinity between the work of art and its buyer.
At this point Kanter completes a full circle: As the occupants left their individual stamps on the wicker beach chairs - their "portraits" - the paintings inspired by these become the personally chosen "portraits" of their owners.
Beach (2004)
Matthias Kanter's new series _Strand" ("Beach") was inspired by his visual experience on a private beach in the seaside resort of Warnemünde on the German Baltic coast: Contemplating the alleys of canopied double-seated wicker beach chairs ("Strandkorb"), so typical for the German Baltic and North Sea coast, he realised how a standardised commodity, distinguishable by the colours of paint and individual signs of tear and wear only, can become an indirect "portrait" of its users.
Kanter abstracts his perception of the original graphic motive into a sketch-like window, making it the source of his own chromatic research; the "dialogue of colours" becomes the actual tenor of the imagery.
Matthias Kanter's conceptual approach has already been formulated in Marcel Duchamp's radicalised notion of "choice" as an act of art sponsoring: Before paintings are finally "released" anyone who is interested in buying may select his or her "own". With the purchase, the buyer's initials will become an integral part of the painting's title, officially documenting the affinity between the work of art and its buyer.
At this point Kanter completes a full circle: As the occupants left their individual stamps on the wicker beach chairs - their "portraits" - the paintings inspired by these become the personally chosen "portraits" of their owners.