Humans can endure the truth.
Petra Traxler-Pilgram uses her art to expose stereotypes and prejudices. Her works invite us to look behind the façade and recognize often uncomfortable truths. Using minimalist means, she conveys complex messages and takes the viewer on a journey of self-reflection.
UNVANISHED - an exhibition that lifts the veil of concealment and reveals the unvarnished face of reality. Created between 2018 and 2024, Petra Traxler-Pilgram's works show an uncompromising examination of the pressing issues and conflicts of our time.
The exhibition focuses on works such as Teuflisches Schattenspiel, Wendung and Monsterblick, which unabashedly address taboos and force the viewer to look where they would otherwise look away. Known for her black and white paintings and multi-layered collages, she bluntly addresses social grievances and taboo subjects. Her works are characterized by clear lines and powerful imagery that captivates the viewer and makes them think. Using acrylic on canvas, Aludibond, collages, ink on paper and art prints, she creates a visual diversity that nevertheless carries a clear message: The truth may be painful, but it must be told.
Traxler-Pilgram, known for her multi-layered and moving figures, also relies on clear, powerful imagery in this exhibition. Her works are characterized by intense lines and narrative depth, forcing the viewer into a dialogue with the work. Figures in motion, both physically and emotionally, dominate the space and offer scope for interpretation.
"Don't teach, don't learn - let it grow from its own roots." This quote from Franz Čižek, the pioneer of Viennese Kinetism, reflects Traxler-Pilgram's philosophy. Her art grows from deep, personal and social roots, is sometimes raw, always direct and blunt.
The exhibition explores the ambivalence of human nature: the bright sides of compassion and love as well as the dark sides of abuse and violence. Textual interventions accompany the mostly black-and-white LineART. Speech bubbles and multiple titles give rise to a variety of associations. The mental cinema of each viewer creates subjective realities.
Using a mixture of different media and techniques, Traxler-Pilgram creates an intense, often harrowing atmosphere. The works are multidimensional and invite the viewer to look deeper, penetrate layers and find their own interpretations. Each work tells a story, each line, each textual intervention deepens the meaning.
The exhibition UNVERBLÜMT is a challenge to the senses and the mind. It invites the viewer to confront the unpleasant truths that are often concealed in our society. Traxler-Pilgram succeeds in expressing the unspeakable and making the invisible visible. It is art that moves and changes.
UNVANISHED: An exhibition about uncovering truths.
Vernissage
BURN-IN invites you to the exhibition opening on 08. August 2024 6 pm.
Location
BURN-IN Galerie im Gerngross 2. OG | 1070 Vienna, Mariahilfer Straße 42-48
#KunstTRANSFER
Reasonable Truths
With the exhibition UNVARNISHED we are entering a path of shocking revelation. Petra Traxler-Pilgram leads us into the deep abysses of the abuse of power, illuminated by her powerful LineART. After the profound BURN-IN exhibitions SO OR SO? (2018) and STOP.THINK.MOVE. (2020), we are now venturing into the brutal realities of political, sexual and child abuse. This exhibition demands that we have the courage to look and recognize the uncomfortable truths.
Traxler-Pilgram's central works show us the torments and passions of those affected. Her detailed, complex images reveal the multi-layered plight of the victims and raise urgent questions: How do we help those who are suffering? How do we confront the perpetrators who could themselves be victims? With her art form, the artist, philosopher and historian lends these questions a haunting voice.
In her blunt depiction, Traxler-Pilgram lends truth a new form of transparency. Her works are a mirror of human nature, both in its darkness and in its irritability. This exhibition forces us to reflect and possibly even to act. It invites us to leave our comfort zone and confront the realities of the abuse of power.
Through her powerful art form, Petra Traxler-Pilgram conveys not only the urgency of the issue, but also the need to look and act. Her works are a call for empathy and commitment, an invitation to bluntly accept the truth and actively take responsibility.
