desperate attempt to put structures in order
The generation of artists to which Stefan Osterider belongs grew up with a variety of media that generate pictures – starting from TV to the computer. His painting does not shut these things out but rather deals with them in a playful way. In a kind of double-movement he both gains distance from them and integrates individual elements into his very own cosmos of art. The exhibition at KHG-Gallery not only deals with the perpetual failure of painting but also with the longing for order. Abstract symbols from visible nature are blended with colours and shapes on the canvas, and this dialogue results in a new world of forms which has an artistic logic of its own.
Moreover, the current show is meant to juxtapose new and most recent works and central works of the past years such as the picture “matrix” from 2005. In this way, the exhibition demonstrates the consistent development of the artist beyond any flirtation with zeitgeisty movements. At the same time, in two of Osterider’s most recent works an explanation of the canvas-border is clearly recognizable as a future artistic aim.
Alois Kölbl, khg-Galerie, Graz, 2013