Weather jug 1999

Curator: Upon first viewing Christian Attersee's "Weather jug," dated 1999, executed with acrylic paint and mixed-media elements, one is immediately struck by a certain chaotic vibrancy. The textures practically leap off the canvas. Editor: Leaps is right. My first thought? A glorious mess. A beautiful, unsettling sort of garden, exploding from the jug, or maybe imploding into it. There’s a kind of frenzy to it. Curator: Indeed. Observe the artist's command of color, with its juxtaposition of vibrant yellows and blues against darker, somber tones. Semiotically, the jug functions as a central vessel, brimming with an energetic expressionistic vitality. Note the tension created through discordant chromatic relations and how that contributes to the overall dynamism of the composition. Editor: You said tension and dynamism, I say the whole thing hums with the potential for rain and then sun in the same afternoon. I’m struck, though, how representational it teeters. We see recognizable forms: vases, yes, even maybe those little birds but they are consumed and nearly disappear within Attersee's wild application of paint. What are your thoughts on his layering? Curator: Layering provides the critical textural element, a stratification mirroring emotional and environmental complexity. Each brushstroke becomes a signifier in this elaborate symbolic code. The visible layering contributes significantly to its depth, which offers several distinct planes of reality collapsing upon each other. Editor: A visual feast, that's for sure. And what is "weather" if not just layered systems swirling? Attersee truly captured that, the fleeting and furious energies always at play. If you look closely you might see all the seasons. It feels oddly alive. Curator: Alive, exactly! An accurate observation, underscoring the painting’s capacity to activate emotive response in its audience. I find its lasting significance to be in the way Attersee merges Fauvist sensibilities within an Expressionist mode, disrupting conventional modes of representation. Editor: So, chaos into something that sort of resembles order, all suspended for you and me. It’s good to spend time with. Thank you, Christian, for the gift of wild weather and even wilder blooms.