[SEOUL] Sense of Self: Bertram Hasenauer

CHOI&CHOI Gallery presents 'Sense of Self,' a solo exhibition featuring the works of Bertram Hasenauer (b. 1970, Saalfelden, Austria). Influenced by his background as a sculptor, Hasenauer's work reflects a contemporary approach to classical painting genres, creating pictorial spaces through strong colour contrasts and fine gradients that explore the limits of painting and challenge viewer habits.

Hasenauer’s portraits often begin with photographs found in fashion magazines, particularly ones that capture the excess and vanity of post-war consumerist culture as exemplified by the supermodels of the 90s and the noughties. In a process of deconstruction, he gathers his source materials and reconfigures them into collages. He then photographs them until their original context is stripped bare, before finally transferring them onto the canvas. As these flashy icons are left without their extravagant veneer, what is revealed is “an idea of a figure” – essence of human existence. In this process of reduction and distillation, his figurative elements descend into abstraction. This is evident not only in his portraits but also in his interpretations of still-life and landscape painting, where subjects are distilled to the very core of their outward appearance.

“In the realm of traditional portrait painting, eliciting a sense of desire in the observer became the primary objective. In that regard, a portrait achieves its true potential when intertwined with the viewer's own imagination.”

– Bertram Hasenauer

As the forceful allure of flashy billboards disintegrates, a more subtle yet primal mystique reveals itself. Hasenauer’s models refuse to be known. They avert the viewer’s eyes in stern defiance or gaze into (or perhaps just beyond) us with an impenetrable stare. They appear and disappear in the background's dark abyss, adopting ephemeral shapes through the delicate application of silverpoint on canvas. They beckon us and pull us in, only to leave the viewer wanting more. By offering fragments of themselves but never the whole, his works delve into the core of human desire to grasp what lies beyond our reach.

In this exhibition, Hasenauer introduces new works that mimic the appearance of folded paper, tapping into the experience of discovering old photographs – of our friends and family, our old selves, or of others who existed before our time. These pieces add texture and depth to his delicate compositions, heightening the sense of poetic expression. The folded paper becomes a metaphor for the layers of memory, with each crease telling a story, each fold preserving a moment in time.

The introduction of nostalgia as a motif furthers the artist’s exploration of the unknowable. As the subjective lens of nostalgia colours our memories of past events, what objectively was no longer holds importance and what we believe to have been becomes reality. This visual manifestation of reminiscence reminds the viewer that our perception of what is real is not absolute. In our desire to conquer the unknown, we deceive ourselves into not knowing. This perpetual cycle of desire and unknown is at the heart of Hasenauer’s paintings. His paintings are a siren call that call out to us. Through the presentation his pieces, he reveals the inherent absurdity that resides within human desire and creates a viewing experience that further explicates his observations of the human condition.