OLIVER CZARNETTA | 2 Projects

OLIVER CZARNETTA | 2 Projects
Head | A World Behind The World

Represented by Galerie Am Elisengarten

HEAD

“In 2006, I created the first “Spectra,” life-size head shapes cast in resin. They thematize, i. a. the dialectic of inside and outside. The idea of the layered, “onion-like” structure has been expressed since ancient times in the concept of “… in small as in large…” the micro/macrocosm.
I tie this thought to my idea of the nature of man. The human personality is layered like an onion, from the infinitely divisible to the infinitely expanded, with no defined end in both directions.”

– Oliver Czarnetta

“The “I” as a putatively static core emerges as an illusion, as another microcosm in a further macrocosm. Our personality is, therefore, to be understood as a process that takes place in the correspondence of outer and inner, in the tension between the layers.
The processuality of the “spectrum” lies in the viewer’s movement: the circumambulation brings it to life. Time becomes apparent to us in movement/ change only. The resin head does not move by itself. But everything inside it changes when the viewer moves around it, transferring their time to it. Thus the head obtains its movement/ temporality through the movement/ time of those who are occupying themselves with it. Its moving inner life symbolizes the mental processes of a non-fixed “I” for various forms of mind/ material connections.
The head’s faces consist of air bubbles and pigment and symbolize the transience, the fragility of our “flowing” personality, which we cannot define ourselves. A contradiction exists between supposed transparency and a “letting slip off thought” closeness.”

• Oliver Czarnetta

About the Head Series

Written by Julia Miebach | Galerie Am Elisengarten

Faces reflect the essence of people and are each unique in their individuality; facial expressions and eye contact are conscious and unconscious means of communication. The brain or the spirit behind it eludes the direct access of others and remains literally hidden behind the facade.

After many years of a rather complex approach to the sculptural representation of the human figure and nature, since 2006, his resin cast heads are Oliver Czarnetta’s solution to making these deeper layers of personality visible.
The trained stonemason, art historian, and philosopher “has discovered a special artistic representation for this fascinating and largely unexplored field of human existence. His life-size heads allow the observer to penetrate deeper than usual into the interior, bringing light and transparency to the concealed. This is made possible using an almost clear resin, from which the heads are cast.” (Art historian Dr. Alexandra Kolossa, Düren/ Germany).
The multi-layered working method repeatedly distorts these insights and lures the viewer to circle the work to change perspective.

The smoothly polished, immaculate surface often contrasts with the material poured into the layers, such as concrete, technical or organic objets trouvés and memorabilia, writing, or signs. In some heads, “black graphisms appear […], graffiti, distorted letters and series of numbers, that swim like moving projections in this ‘flowing’ space – well-nigh unreadable, secret messages which interchange those conserved brains with the viewers” (Art historian Prof. Wolfgang Becker, Aachen/Germany).

Reminiscent of archaeological excavation finds or specimens, the massive, heavy heads rest on narrow, spindly metal supports. The faces appear mask-like, without individual facial characteristics or expressions, and are often defined only by air bubbles on the adjacent resin layers. “Contrary to the approach of an archaeologist, who removes layer after layer, Oliver Czarnetta constructs new layers and perspectives, conveys food for thought, and makes the viewer doubt what seems to be practically given”. (Dr. Alexandra Kolossa).

About Oliver Czarnetta

Oliver Czarnetta’s work establishes a close relationship with the human personality; for the German artist, it comprises layers, like an onion.
The meaning of “I” plays an essential role, as a supposedly static core emerging from an illusion as another microcosm in an additional macrocosm. Czarnetta’s work expresses the infinitely divisible parts to those that expand indefinitely in any direction.
Thus, Oliver Czarnetta considers that the personality must be understood as a process that takes place from the connection between all of them, resulting from the tension between the layers.
The dynamic of the sculptures lies in the viewer’s movement: the fact of moving around them gives them life. The human being is aware of the time when change occurs. His sculptures do not move by themselves, hence the importance of the spectator’s movement, who, by surrounding them, places them in their time.
His artistic proposal revolves around the paradox itself, determined by the supposed transparency of his sculptures and the near intention of letting any thought escape.

Oliver Czarnetta (b. 1966, Birkesdorf near Düren, Germany). Lives and works in Aachen, Germany, since 2015. Czarnetta had his final examination as an apprentice stone mason in 1992 and has worked as an independent artist since then.
His primary academic studies focused on the History of Art and Philosophy, and he graduated with a Ph.D. in 2004.
Between 2007 and 2009, he joined as an official artistic staff member at Institut für Kunstwissenschaft / Institute of Art History and Theory at the University of Koblenz, Germany.

From 2012- 2015 he managed an additional studio in Leipzig, Germany.
Czarnetta’s work has been exhibited in countless exhibitions and art fairs around the globe, including at the latest DAF Cologne represented by Galerie Am Elisengarten based in Aachen, Germany; in 2022, he exhibited at Galerie Schmalfuss in Berlin, Galerie Rompone in Cologne, Galerie Lucia Mendoza, Madrid, Spain, at the Museum Der Ny Kastet, in Thistedt, Danmark and Vitraria Glass + A Museum in Venice, Italy, among others.

Oliver Czarnetta | |A World Behind The World

Oliver Czarnetta on the evolution-deciding ability to abstract reality: it brings “man, via a (constantly generated) consciousness of lack […], in dialogue with nature, to see in a bamboo stalk, for example,
a container or a blowpipe and finally
a water pipe. This is the birthplace of all innovation, including religion, idealism, and vision, i.e., the constant search for meaning and significance, the ‘world behind the world,’ so to speak.
Art is the exercising play with these very forces and shows itself to be a vital part of the human development process beyond mere decoration or programmatic.”

Galerie Am Elisengarten

Based in the center of Aachen for over 40 years, we have dealt with art objects from the last three centuries.
In addition to Belgian Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Fauvist, and Expressionist paintings as well as selected works by internationally successful artists such as K. O. Götz, Markus Lüpertz, Max Uhlig, and Otto Freundlich, among others, our special focus is on works by high-class regional artists such as Wolfgang Binding, Oliver Czarnetta, and Eric Peters.

Through our exhibitions at renowned art fairs, such as the DISCOVERY ART FAIR COLOGNE or the COLOGNE FINE ART (COFA), and our visits to international exhibitions, as well as our many years of experience, we know the art market very well and will be delighted to advise you on building and maintaining an attractive art collection of lasting value.
We are a member of the Bundesverband Deutscher Galerien und Kunsthändler e.V.

See the full article in Art Market Magazine Issue #81