Exhibition

PIERRE KLOSSOWSKI and RADE PETRASEVIC EROS and BEELZEBUB

5 Jun 2020 – 1 Aug 2020

Regular hours

Monday
Closed
Tuesday
12:00 – 18:00
Wednesday
12:00 – 18:00
Thursday
12:00 – 18:00
Friday
12:00 – 18:00
Saturday
11:00 – 15:00
Sunday
Closed

Save Event: PIERRE KLOSSOWSKI and RADE PETRASEVIC EROS and BEELZEBUB

I've seen this

People who have saved this event:

close

About

“I am a maniac”, Pierre Klossowski, philosopher, writer, artist and much more, once wrote. “Every one of my works, whatever it may be, has obses- sion as its origin.” An opinion that, in an altered existential-social melange, ought to apply to Rade Petrasevic as well. Both artists confront the body, both under the conditions of its in- tegrity as well as that of mutilation, they negotiate the presence and ab- sence of the erotic and the mysteries of secrets and violence. In two works by Klossowski in the context of this exhi- bition, gently dabbed on and in deli- cately bleached out coloration, can be seen Roberte, his cipher for the enig- matic female, upon whom lust is im- posed and who replicates it with silence. Here, the notion of the artist that “the coition always involves the concept of evil” is instantiated.
Another drawing bears the title, “Socrate interrogeant le jeune Charmide” and shows the head of the philosopher between the legs of the young man near his genitals – a little like the severed head of John the Baptist that is served to Salome on a silver tray.
Klossowski's statement that “the forms of the sensual emotions betray an equally secret as well as tragic relationship to the anthropomorphic appearance of the economy and of exchange," is taken up and further declined by Rade Petrasevic, although with different artistic means of repre- sentation and with another narrative. In his new works that enter into a
dialogue with Klossowski, the palette is substantially reduced in comparison with earlier, more colour-intensive works. A few tones dominate, some- times red, sometimes blue, sometimes green against a black or reddish-pur- ple background. In terms of motif, Pe- trasevic partially remains true to still life, whereby in the objects arranged on tables sometimes vanitas memora- bilia such as skulls and severed feet are mixed in. Other images display black bodies accomplished in large strokes – whereby here black does not imply a racial attribution, but is instead a col- oristic manner that insinuates a “noir” tinge that is to be understood as com- pletely metaphorical. Without express- ing this explicitly, the fetishisation of the body resonates here:
In its variation between submission, vulnerability and casual nonchalance, it becomes currency and an emblem with which a symbolic exchange could be consummated. An oscillation- and hallucination game between sex, satire, pain and deep significance, which both artists bring into a sceno- graphic representation, each with their own means. Or in the words of Klos- sowski: “As a simulacrum, the phan- tasma is capable of procreation.”
(Thomas Miessgang, Vienna 2020)

What to expect? Toggle

Exhibiting artistsToggle

Pierre Klossowski

Rade Petrasevic

Comments

Have you been to this event? Share your insights and give it a review below.