Of course it is always worth taking a close look at art. But some works demand it more than others. As the title suggests, the exhibition A Closer Look aims to take a closer look at precisely such works that require a sharper gaze – pictures that hide details that are only visible to the viewer when they either come close, zoom in, or fulfill certain visual aspects. These can be small objects scattered on tables, desks, beds, in landscapes, urban surroundings, it can be reflections in mirrors, narratives running simultaneously in the background of a “main action,” fragmentation, enlargement, and other alienations.
Why is it that artists place sometimes more, sometimes less visible motifs in their works and lure the viewer closer to them as if they whispered something in their ear? Is it about exploring scaling within the picture, dealing with proportions, playing a game of hide-and-seek with the viewer, or demonstrating certain artistic skills, as practized by miniature painters in the 16th century or Baroque painters in the 17th century? Should attentive viewers be “rewarded” for looking closely? And what does this tell us about how we see and behave today in the digital age?
The exhibition aims to raise these and other questions and perhaps find an explanation based on works by artists such as Katherine Bradford, Anne Buckwalter, Madeline Donahue, Aubrey Levinthal, Sophie Treppendahl, Maximilian Kirmse, Fabian Treiber, and Evian Wenyi Zhang, who are representing different approaches.
