Hans Aichinger's works (painting, oil on canvas) are filled with concentration: firstly in the way he uses it to paint the highly accurate figures, and through the tension that is placed in the minds of the characters themselves. This concentration does not reveal its object as it lies outside of the frame - without reference - in the open. Thus, Aichinger creates a harmony between figuration and abstraction, and at the same time, he makes the legibility of the images possible and impossible.
The figures are performing on a minimalist stage, no portraits, mostly soloists without concrete opponents - but with counter-stands, or resistances: a wooden stick, stuffed animals, pebbles, toys or, even more, reduced, with a physical gesture - as an expression of internal compression. We are confronted with mainly adolescents still on the way to the acceptance of one's appearance, with naive self-assurance and openness. Background and space are strangely indefinite and speechless, and in the medium format, the figures appear almost life-size at eye level with the viewer.
The ambivalence of works such as »Abnehmendes Licht« (»diminishing light«) or »Unruhe« (»unrest«) have an explicit yet undefined side, it is here where the works begin to assert their abstraction. The indefinite "assumption of form" in Aichinger’s works presents the protagonist on the one hand, but same time the pictorial content is both objective and abstract. This suspicion is supported in Aichinger's precise accuracy, which goes beyond any realism and where the form begins to dissolve.
These elements, which are almost microscopically alien to the detail, have no specific meaning but are there to direct our perception. Thus the abstraction comes into the work subtly by taking short detours along the way. His inclination towards the non-representational ideal image comes from Aichinger surprisingly close - albeit from an unexpected direction.
CV
1959
born in Leipzig
1982 - 1986
studies under supervision of Prof. Bernhard Heisig at the Academy of Visual Arts. Leipzig
1992 - 1997
teaching activities at the Academy of Visual Arts. Leipzig
1999
working sojourn at Casa Alejandro de Humboldt. Havana. Cuba
1999
guest lecturer at the Emory University, Atlanta. USA
Hans Aichinger lives and works in Leipzig.
Publications
2013
»Hans Aichinger. Truth or Duty« Monograph. Hirmer Verlag Munich
2012
»Melancholia« Klinger Forum. Leipzig
2012
»BILD SEIN« Art Foundation of Saxony Anhalt. Halle (Saale)
2006
»Zurück zur Figur - Malerei der Gegenwart« Catalogue. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. Munich
2005
»BESSER ALS NICHTS« Exhibition catalogue
»Die Frage nach dem Ding« maerzgalerie. Leipzig
2001
»Schrei nach Liebe« maerzgalerie. Leipzig / De Lifters Gallery. Tokyo. Japan
»Blick in die Sammlung« Bestandskatalog. Kunsthalle der Sparkasse. Leipzig
1999
»Ambos Mundos« Catalogue. Casa Alejandro de Humboldt. Havanna
1997
»Form und Funktion der Zeichnung heute« Catalogue. Frankfurt am Main
1996
»Ein Jahr voller Montage« Catalogue. ARTCO Galerie. Leipzig
1994
»Für F.N. - Nietzsche in der bildenden Kunst der letzten 30 Jahre« Catalogue. Schloss Belvedere. Weimar
»Demokratie und Fußbodenheizung« Catalogue. ARTCO Galerie. Leipzig
1992
»Turning Points« Catalogue. Northern Centre of Contemporary Art. Sunderland. Great Britain
exhibitions
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019
»Liebe und Genauigkeit« Galerie Löhrl. Mönchengladbach
»¾ verstanden« mit Matthias Kanter. REITER | Leipzig
2018
»Bilder von Tatsachen« REITER | Berlin prospect
2016
»Der Teufel im Detail« maerzgalerie. Leipzig
2015
»Die Entdeckung der Kontingenz« maerzgalerie. Berlin
2014
»Hans Aichinger« Kunstverein Lippe. Lippische Gesellschaft für Kunst. Detmold
»Der weiße Anfang« Kunsthalle Bremerhaven. Bremerhaven
2013
»Die Familie. Eine Aufstellung« maerzgalerie. Leipzig (K)
2012
»Wahrheit oder Pflicht« maerzgalerie. Berlin
2010
»Ein Missverständnis« maerzgalerie. Berlin
2009
»Von Natur aus falsch« maerzgalerie. Leipzig
2007
»Impossible Germany« Moti Hasson Gallery. New York City. USA
2005
»Die Frage nach dem Ding« maerzgalerie. Leipzig (K)
2003
»Das wissende Feld« maerzgalerie. Leipzig
2001
»Schrei nach Liebe« maerzgalerie. Leipzig (K)
»Schrei nach Liebe« De Lifters Gallery. Tokyo. Japan (K)
1992
»Holzschnitte« Galerie Schwind. Frankfurt am Main
2000
Galerie Prinz. Madrid. Spain
1999
Emory University. Atlanta, USA
1998
ARTCO Galerie. Leipzig
1996
»Formen missglückten Daseins« Galerie VOXXX. Chemnitz
1995
Galerie Peters – Barenbrock. Braunschweig
»Arbeit besiegt alles« Galerie Schuster. Offenbach
1993
Reg Vardy Gallery. Sunderland. UK
1992
Reg Vardy Gallery. Sunderland. UK
1990
Städtisches Theater Solothurn. Switzerland
Galerie Plume. La Chaux des Fondes. Switzerland
1987
»Akzente« Duisburg
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
»Leipzig: a universe of images. 1905 – 2022« Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig
2020
»The Inner Land« REITER | Leipzig
»AFK« REITER | Leipzig
2019
»Feelings. Kunst und Emotionen« Pinakothek der Moderne. Munich
»Das Kollegium« Grafikstiftung Neo Rauch. Aschersleben
»New Acquisitions-Hildebrand Collection« G2 Kunsthalle. Leipzig
2018
»Zeigen und Sagen« kuratiert von Hans Aichinger . Deutsche Bundesbank Geldmuseum . Frankfurt
»MdbK meets G2. Malerei aus Leipzig nach 2000« Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig
»Fountain of Youth« Goethe Institut Lille . Galerie La Passerelle. R