16/04/2925 – 28/06/2025
at first glance, it is immediately apparent what richard kaplenig’s paintings in oil paint on canvas depict: light bulbs, laboratory glass, spark plugs, gear wheels, screw nuts, etc. kaplenig uses a narrow palette, reduced to black, grey, indigo and a few other colors, to create photographic-like formulations. technically perfect, he places his motifs on an open, empty stage. cool and sober, superficially determined by objectivity, the precisely captured, oversized objects develop a physicality of their own and at the same time gain an aesthetic value of their own. kaplenig elevates his subjects to the status of cult objects. they appear simply beautiful, graceful and desirable. in doing so, his painting transcends, erases and alienates an initially obvious reference to reality. it is therefore not the reproduction of everyday objects that establishes the presence in kaplenig’s paintings, but the break with reality.
(dr. willi rainer)
