Markus Vater
Basic Patterns of Fear and Conversations with Animals
We are delighted to welcome you to our first exhibition in our additional temporary gallery – art agents out of space – in the rooms of the Agency for Contemporary Art – Christoph Grau.
Markus Vater’s (*1970) paintings and drawings usually raise questions and only sometimes make assertions. These are philisophical questions addressed to our perception of the world, to communal life in our society and the influence of the media on the individual. He humourously rather than scientifically conceives figurative scenes, text collages and drawings reminiscent of cartoons and image. The border between phantasy and reality is irrelevant to Markus Vater and yet his statements are often very political. For example he asks: „Why is the world dominated by countries with changing seasons?“
Two separate series are shown in the exhibition: large format figurative works that initiate an open dialogue with the 1961 published book “Basic Patterns of Fear“ by the pychologist Fritz Riemann. In accordance with the rule of three principle, Markus Vater combines future, water, fear and charity to come to the conclusion that fear is the American root of water divided by future plus charity.
The second series consists of paintings and drawings addressed to animals: a painting for a cat, a painting for a bee, a painting for an elk. From a diametrically opposite view, these non-verbal and non-figurative compositions raise the question of the reception by the desired addressee. And should the viewer in the end not grasp the complexity, it might help to use Markus Vaters stenzil for the german saying “to paint the devil on the wall”.