Untitled 2006

Gerwald Rockenschaub, born in Austria in 1952, made this untitled work. It's a digital rendering of stacked and angled coloured blocks. Rockenschaub emerged in the 1980s, a period marked by a growing critique of the art market. This image is sparse, and clean, and refuses the traditional art object. It evokes the slick aesthetics of corporate design. It's as if Rockenschaub is questioning the commodification of art. He seems to be challenging the idea of the unique, handcrafted artwork in favour of mass-produced, reproducible imagery. Made in the era of burgeoning digital technology, it questions the role of art in a rapidly changing society. To fully appreciate Rockenschaub's work, we can explore the context of the 1980s art world. Periodicals, gallery records, and critical writings from the time would illuminate how artists responded to shifts in the cultural landscape. Through an exploration of institutional history we see that an artwork's meaning is contingent on its social and cultural context.