02.03 — 03.09.13
devening projects + editions is pleased to announce the opening of UUUUU, the second solo exhibition from Vienna-based artist Rainer Spangl.
Rainer Spangl has been developing a rich and inspired relationship with history developed most often through observational studies done in museum collections. In UUUUU, he synthesizes more than one conceptual position constructed from this historical context. One aspect of the project presents work depicting a specific location in a room; the paintings are installed at a height suggesting a frieze-like ornamental architectural feature. Alongside the group are five other works related by contextual reference. As with all of Spangl’s work, observational studies and drawings act as the basis for the project. Working in the galleries and directly from the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Rainer finds important conceptual triggers from the objects and the spaces that frame them. In one set of works, Spangl renders a vitrine featuring pre-currency objects used in barter and trade transactions. Depicting the images smaller than actual size, Spangl re-stages the economic means of exchange as a constructed double entendre. Being inspired by and simultaneously participating in an arcane and existing market, Spangl brings to bear the rudimentary tools of a financial system. In other works taken from spaces in the museum, there are views of windows and architectural details from the interior.
Spangl’s system of pictorial depiction has within its production, a way of solidifying the painting with its meaning. Using light to dark, shifting monochromatic grounds as well as recurring color fields, Spangl’s brush marks begin with slight gestures that are gradually built up to a fully realized image.
Rainer Spangl studied at University College of Leeds, Bretton Hall, UK and completed his studies in painting at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in 2005. Recent solo exhibitions include Song Song, Vienna (2012, 2010) and devening projects + editions, Chicago (2008). His works have been presented in group exhibitions at Pigna Project Space, Rome; ADDS DONNA, devening projects + editions, Julius Caesar and Fifty-50 Gallery in Chicago; Trottoir, Hamburg; Kunstraum Innsbruck; and at Swingr in Vienna. Since 2010 he’s co-curated the “Artist Lecture Series Vienna.” He lives and works in Vienna.
