BADEN.- The Arnulf Rainer Museum in Baden, Austria, celebrates a double anniversary: the 95th birthday of Arnulf Rainer, a pioneer of Art Informel and one of Austria's most important contemporary artists, and the 15th anniversary of the museum itself. This celebration is marked by a major three-year exhibition cycle, beginning with "Arnulf Rainer: Nothing Against Everything," running from November 23, 2024, to October 5, 2025. This exhibition, curated by Nikolaus Kratzer and art collector Helmut Zambo, delves into the core of Rainer’s artistic explorations, focusing on his earliest works from the 1940s and 50s and his iconic cross paintings, a theme he has relentlessly pursued since the mid-1950s.
Explore the profound and often unsettling world of Arnulf Rainer with Arnulf Rainer: Cross: The Cross Can Convey The Meaning
The title, “Nothing Against Everything,” is borrowed from Rainer’s 1951 text, "Perspectives of Annihilation." This text reveals the artist's profound engagement with existential themes: "A choice: silence against poetry, loss against possession, absence against yourselves. Death against life. The Other against the world. Nothing against everything." These words encapsulate the dialectical nature of Rainer's work, his exploration of fundamental human experiences, and the tension between opposing forces.
The exhibition illuminates Rainer’s artistic process, a constant interplay between creation and destruction, fullness and emptiness. His monumental cross paintings exemplify this duality. These works, often created through meticulous layering of paint and the use of drypoint etching, are not merely representations of the cross but explorations of its symbolic weight. They embody the struggle between the act of creation and the inevitable decay that follows, the tension between the void and the tangible.
One particularly striking example is his work, "Self-Burial or Christ's Suffering, Christ's Joy?" Here, Rainer portrays himself as a martyr, submerged in color, a powerful metaphor for the painful yet necessary path to artistic creation. This work, along with others in the "Great Crosses" series, demonstrates how Rainer consistently reworks and reinterprets a single motif, pushing the boundaries of his medium and delving deeper into its expressive potential.
The exhibition juxtaposes these monumental crosses with other significant bodies of work, including his surrealist phase, early etchings, cross etchings, early monochrome overpaintings, blind drawings, vertical and central compositions, and a selection of finger paintings and body poses that address the theme of the cross from different perspectives. This comprehensive display offers a holistic view of Rainer’s artistic development and his unwavering focus on fundamental existential questions.
A significant highlight of the exhibition is the presentation of a portion of the Helmut Zambo collection, recently acquired by the Lower Austrian State Collections. Zambo, a lifelong companion and collector of Rainer’s work, has amassed what is considered the world’s most important collection of his art. This acquisition significantly enhances the State Collections and provides an unparalleled insight into Rainer’s artistic journey. Zambo’s dedication to Rainer's work is evident in his statement: "Someone once said about my relationship with Arnulf Rainer: He is your Messiah and you are his disciple. For me, he is a genius and one of the greatest artists of all time."
The exhibition also marks the 15th anniversary of the Arnulf Rainer Museum. Over these years, the museum has presented more than 20 exhibitions, showcasing the multifaceted nature of Rainer’s oeuvre. By juxtaposing his work with that of other prominent artists like Georg Baselitz and Damien Hirst, the museum has further explored Rainer’s influence on contemporary art.
“Nothing Against Everything” is an exploration of the core principles that drive Rainer’s artistic practice. It is an invitation to confront the paradoxes and ambiguities inherent in his work, to engage with the fundamental questions of existence that he so powerfully addresses. As curator Nikolaus Kratzer aptly states, “Simple explanations do not suffice when it comes to Arnulf Rainer’s art; on the contrary, they bypass the ambiguity, the paradoxes, and Rainer’s perfected dialectic. There is only one thing that helps – to look at the works.” This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to do just that, to immerse oneself in the world of Arnulf Rainer and to contemplate the profound dialogue between nothing and everything. The exhibition is a profound meditation on the human condition, rendered in layers of paint, etched lines, and the enduring symbol of the cross.
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