16×12
Gallerie Suppan, Vienna
2022
The exhibition 16×12, focuses on a single format—an unusual one. In recent decades, the trend has been for paintings to grow larger and larger, driven by the desire to capture attention in an image-saturated age. Ornauer, however, takes the opposite approach: 16×12 cm is the format for all of the works.
We are no longer accustomed to taking time for small things
yet it is incredibly interesting to study these miniatures. The exploration of painting possibilities, the desire to experiment with color, and the application of it in diverse ways—traits we already know from this artist—can be rediscovered here in a concentrated form.
The spectrum of color, both as an optical phenomenon and as a material to explore in painting, is vast.
Lightness and heaviness, wildness and gentleness, color shock and calm monochrome: if viewers take their time and look carefully, they can discover the range of painterly techniques the artist uses, playing with and experimenting through them.
The great passion of the artist is palpable especially in his concentration on a single, small format.
© Anna Arnet