C.F.J. König & Víctor Sales / Arte fakt: the art of the moment. Two artists from two different continents, complementing one another with their different techniques and laying open their views of our planet side by side. A compelling exhibition of extraordinary works, and one that gives much to think about.
Press release: “Nature, Structure, Future” — great crowds in Perchtoldsdorf, exhibition extended after enormous success.
Under the title “Nature, Structure, Future — the art of the moment”, an extraordinary artistic symbiosis breaks new ground in the late Gothic Spitalskirche of Perchtoldsdorf. Because of the enormous crowds in the first days there is now welcome news for everyone with a feeling for art: the highly praised exhibition by the local painter Christian Franz Joseph (CFJ) König and the Guatemalan poet and photographic artist Víctor Sales has officially been extended.
PERCHTOLDSDORF. What the duo König and Sales stage within the historic walls of the Spitalskirche is a deliberate break with habitual ways of seeing. Where sacral silence otherwise reigned, a visual tension now vibrates, spanning the arc from microscopically exact reality to artistic translation. The exhibition proves to be a finely curated dialogue between two cultural worlds which — despite, or precisely because of, their contrasting media — harmonise perfectly.
Representational abstraction and material depth. The Perchtoldsdorf painter CFJ König, known in the regional art scene for his uncompromising approach, breaks open the three-dimensionality of the room with powerful, emotionally charged canvases. His representational-abstract works move in the fascinating border zone between real forms from nature and environment and their dissolution. König builds his works in countless dense layers. Mixing hand-ground pigments with modern acrylates produces haptically intense, almost geological textures on the canvas — all of it painted. The exhibition presents this craft spectrum impressively: flowing blue-green nuances that read like cellular structures alternate with fiery, ochre eruptions recalling cracked desert floors. A third, monumental work captivates through a pulsing crimson whose strong contrast of light and dark recalls dense weaves of glowing embers or organic veins, lending the pictures a dramatic, vibrating plasticity.
A poetic focus on the elements. Set against this are the works of the Guatemalan poet and photographic artist Víctor Sales. His lens acts as a scalpel of nature: he captures organic structures, the veins of leaves and patterns of bark so precisely that they tip into the abstract in the viewer's eye. His photographs are no mere images but visual poems documenting the transience and the mathematical beauty of creation. From Guatemala City the poet and photographer brings a fine, almost spiritual bond with the elements to Lower Austria.
Two continents in dialogue about our future. The cool geometry of the Gothic pillars and the intensely blue church windows beneath the curved groin vault form the ideal frame for the whole concept. Two artists from different continents compare and reveal their views here in different techniques. The transatlantic project is a burning statement to us all: it takes up the urgent question of what the future of our environment looks like if we lose sight of its underlying structures.
The project's strong roots in the region were already palpable at the opening. In his address, mayor and member of the state parliament Martin Schuster underlined the importance of such cross-border cultural initiatives for the municipality and honoured “Nature, Structure, Future” as a powerful impulse turning the Spitalskirche into a space for forward-looking discourse.
A call to all readers: make use of the extension. Anyone who has so far missed this powerful symbiosis of painting and photography now has a second chance. Because of the overwhelming interest and the full aisles right after the opening, the Spitalskirche remains open to visitors longer than planned. The organisers warmly invite everyone with an enthusiasm for culture to experience this transatlantic highlight right on their doorstep.