Artwork of the month August

Bruno Kaufmann, 160808, 2016

Bruno Kaufmann

* 1944 in Balzers, Liechtenstein


160808, 2016


Digital print on canvas

146 x 90 cm

Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz

 

In terms of structure and colour, Bruno Kaufmann's landscape-format work 160808 has a warm, alluring feel. The piece can be seen as belonging to the body of works which the artist entitles Superposition. The starting point here is a narrow strip showing a colour gradient from yellow to light yellow. The artist copies this strip, increasing the percentage of red in the gradient, and finally superimposing it with the first strip. By degrees, this gives rise to a "structure image" ranging from lush yellow to soft orange to salmon pastels and a strong pink, evoking in each individual viewer different associations of images, experiences, but also emotions and sounds. The structure pattern created by the process and reminiscent of folds conveys the sense of a motion which almost seems to communicate with space—similar to the way our breathing expands and contracts. As a result, we can make out a living rhythm in the precise, machine-computed form and colouring.

Kaufmann's work is characterised by principle-driven variations and modulations of colour, structure and a resulting rhythm. A narrative is abandoned in favour of the inherent tools of colour and form. He describes his way of making art as follows: "My style was defined by the fact that I wanted to get away from representation. I envisaged an art which consists solely of form, colour and structure."

Since the 1980s—and thus at an extremely early stage—Kaufmann began to "generate" his artworks with the aid of digital computer technology. A tool which allows him to avoid personal style and to calculate his compositions of colour and structure with great precision. Among other things, the artist uses an algorithm based on the Fibonacci series as a compositional principle, a mathematical law which also describes a host of forms of growth in nature. Bruno Kaufmann refers to this body of works as Modulations.

 

Denise Rigaud

<b>Bruno Kaufmann, 160808, 2016</b>
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein highlights a work from the permanent collection each month throughout the year. Works from the collection of the Hilti Art Foundation are also included in this series on a regular basis.