Stux Gallery is pleased to present the premier New York solo exhibition of the senior German master painter Kuno Gonschior. Kuno, who lives and works near Düsseldorf, Germany, was recognized early on in his career with his prominent multi-room installation at Documenta 6. His work is widely regarded as being on par with such noted 20th century artists as Mark Rothko, Robert Ryman and Yayoi Kusama, and can be found in the most respected public and private collections around the world. Often associated with the “analytical” or later, the “radical” minimal abstract style, these paintings transcend the limitations of any one particular stylistic grouping.
On view at Stux are ten paintings from the artist’s Landscapes series dating from 2002. These monumental pieces are indicative of an ever-present commitment to the “liberation of color” from subjective influence in both his process and overall conception of painting. This is not to say that the psychological and physical properties of color are excluded from the appreciation of the works, it is clear, however, that the artist’s primary concern is to explore color not as an expressive, but as an autonomous value.
Kuno, in these works, introduces “dabs” of paint directly onto unprimed canvases. There is no subterfuge, no planned deception here. These works, almost self-consciously, release the “maximum energy” of color and explore, with near scientific resolve, the effects of the interaction of the different chemical properties of pigment in relation to one another. The very essence of the paint is explored, with the utmost attention being given to the individual granules of pigment that swim within the luscious viscosity of the paint.
The works on view represent a cross section of the artist’s process and a continued evolution in his “scientific” approach to painting. The title of this series, Landscapes, hints at a possible evolution in the work, perhaps the result of a powerful inherent human need to “connect the dots,” and transpose against these fields of color and texture an emotional interpretation of collected “facts.”