Lukas Salzmann. In the Viewers Eye – the Unknown
Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart, 2018
As a painter Lukas Salzmann is committed to representationalism while
creating art-historical and media-related references in many of his works.
He overpaints photographic templates, thus freeing the images from their
functional fixedness. Deploying vehement brushwork and powerful
handling, he dissolves content that is seemingly unequivocal and converts
it into a polysemy that valorises the mystical as much as it does the
obvious. Salzmann’s atmospherically dense pictures open up emotional
spaces for viewers, leading them into a state of oscillation between
recognisability and recondite unidentifiability, in which the transformative
powers of painting can develop their full impact.
In the Viewer’s Eyes – the Unknown comprises Lukas Salzmann’s oeuvre
from 1995 to 2018 and includes an accompanying essay by scholar Rudolf
Velhagen, which locates the painter’s work in its art historical context.
creating art-historical and media-related references in many of his works.
He overpaints photographic templates, thus freeing the images from their
functional fixedness. Deploying vehement brushwork and powerful
handling, he dissolves content that is seemingly unequivocal and converts
it into a polysemy that valorises the mystical as much as it does the
obvious. Salzmann’s atmospherically dense pictures open up emotional
spaces for viewers, leading them into a state of oscillation between
recognisability and recondite unidentifiability, in which the transformative
powers of painting can develop their full impact.
In the Viewer’s Eyes – the Unknown comprises Lukas Salzmann’s oeuvre
from 1995 to 2018 and includes an accompanying essay by scholar Rudolf
Velhagen, which locates the painter’s work in its art historical context.
Project direction • Design concept in collaboration with Lukas Salzmann • Graphic design • Image editing • Text editing