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Leopard Lily
Elke Krystufek
acrylic and house paint on fabric
170 × 130 cm
1998
Acquisition 1999
Inv. No. 0060
The work Leopard Lily was part of a work series that the artist presented at the XXIV International São Paulo Biennale in 1998. They are large format nudes, pictures painted on unprepared canvas or other printed fabrics. The self-portraits of the artist, who had photographed herself in a mirror in bizarre poses, serve as templates. The doubling-up is important, as is the reversal; through the eye of the camera – the anonymous apparatus – Krystufek sees herself vis-à-vis in a mirror and encounters her own gaze. The photographic image is transferred to the canvas quickly, often in a matter of hours and the artist now gazes back at the viewer. She is, therefore, an all-in-one – an active viewer and the passive picture – a fusion of subject and object.
This “process” is based on Sigmund Freud’s thesis that “in their subconscious, every exhibitionist is also a voyeur.” Active looking and passively showing yourself are not independent of each other; both can be united in a single person by the reversal of an active into a passive drive. Krystufek plays both roles and makes the paradigm so painfully clear it is not surprising when reactions to so much primal instinct are characterised by aggression, anger and rejection. The idea of art as collective psychotherapy immediately suggests itself, and Elke Krystufek is certainly in agreement, because she is quite conscious of the psychological dimension of her work as it concerns the to and fro of relationships, time and time again.
Brigitte Huck, 2005 (translation: Tim Sharp)
Continue readingExhibitions
On To Something New. Three Decades from Schiele to Schlegel from private collections, Landesgalerie Niederösterreich, Krems, 2021
Mimosen - Rosen - Herbstzeitlosen. Künstlerinnen Positionen 1945 bis heute, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems, 2003
Nackt & Mobil – Elke Krystufek, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg, 2003
REISEN INS ICH. Künstler/Selbst/Bild, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg, 2001
There is something you should know. Die EVN Sammlung im Belvedere, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, 2000
Publications
evn sammlung 95–05, Cologne 2005, p. 188–191
REISEN INS ICH. Künstler/Selbst/Bild [on the occasion of the exhibition “REISEN INS ICH. Künstler/Selbst/Bild”, Sammlung Essl, 10.10.2001 – 03.02.2002], 2002, p. 140
Mimosen - Rosen - Herbstzeitlosen. Künstlerinnen Positionen 1945 bis heute, Vienna 2003, p. 191
Nackt & Mobil – Elke Krystufek [published on the occasion of the exhibition “Nackt & Mobil – Elke Krystufek”, 12.2. – 27.4.2003. Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg], Klosterneuburg 2002, p. 46 (11 ff)
evn sammlung. Ankäufe 1997 – 1999, Maria Enzersdorf 1999, p. 24
Context
More works
from Elke Krystufek
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from 1998