Istria V 2011

Curator: Here we have Gotthard Graubner's "Istria V" from 2011, a work realized through mixed media, including watercolor, showcasing his engagement with color field painting. Editor: It just breathes, doesn't it? Like a giant, subtle bruise blooming across the canvas, all indigo and whispers of lavender. I feel strangely comforted, but also a little… melancholic? Curator: The "bruise," as you put it, might reflect Graubner's larger concerns with color as a phenomenon divorced from representation, reflecting his interest in how color can affect viewers on an emotional level, untethered from subject matter. Consider also the history of abstraction – the mid-century push to dismantle traditional hierarchies of representation. Editor: Oh, totally! It makes me think of Mark Rothko, but, softer somehow? Less… shouty? Rothko feels like facing down a god. This feels like finding a secret, stained-glass window in an abandoned chapel. Like, okay, someone really needed to *feel* something, to let it seep onto this page. What do we know about his process here? Curator: Graubner often layered his pigments and mediums, allowing chance to play a role in the final outcome. He engaged deeply with postwar artistic circles interested in radical material exploration, where gesture and process revealed social and political contexts of the time. Think Yves Klein, Fontana...the desire to break from painterly tradition, the "what is painting" crisis. Editor: "Break" feels so harsh for this one, though. It is more of a melting, isn't it? A really intense dissolving that someone captured, preserved. It is not protest; it is like holding a really rare cloud formation in your hand. It is about capturing fragility in a new medium. Curator: That's a fair interpretation! And I'd suggest it opens questions around who is given access to capturing beauty in painting; how historical shifts toward dematerialization in art interact with issues of gender, class, and access within the history of the art world itself. Editor: Exactly. "Istria V" makes me think about accessibility in emotional life too; who is encouraged to sink into a purple moment, let their feelings bleed into things… This thing lets me feel those complicated colors, maybe even validates them a little bit. Curator: Well, I think it certainly gives us a lot to consider as we move on to the next artwork. Editor: Yeah, time to un-bruise my heart. Onwards.