The Voids that Images Leave Behind
Martin Bilinovac, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair

MAERZ Gallery, Linz
October 6—30, 2020

The fact that Martin Bilinovac and Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair initially considered a haiku by Issa as a possible title for their joint exhibition at the MAERZ Gallery opens up an exciting perspective on the exhibited works. The hallmarks of a haiku are the greatest possible concreteness and a direct reference to the present. At the same time haiku is an unfinished, open text form, which only becomes complete through reader’s experience and in each reader’s own particular way. The haiku is thus essentially based on a moment of abstraction: something experienced in all its intensity in the concrete here-and-now is translated into an abstract image. The image is then experienced in yet another here-and-now in the context of its reception and in turn can bring about a profound moment for the reader. →

five sculptures (Geschenke des Meeres, Turm, Drei, Augen, untitled), each 2020, wood, varnish, gouache, watercolours, steel, silk, 97 × 135 × 184 cm;
Shaped, 2020, gouache, watercolours on wood, metal, 196 × 70 × 26,5 cm;
Sword, 2020, gouache on wood, 160 × 98 × 25 cm;
Flames, 2020, gouache, varnish, wood, metal, 78,5 ×196 × 25 cm.

Photography by Martin Bilivovac and Wolfgang Obermair