Clemens Hollerer - The Beauty of the Beast (en) - a podcast by CastYourArt.com

Clemens Hollerer - The Beauty of the Beast
On the occasion of Clemens Hollerers exhibition "FUEL TO FIRE" in Salzburg/Austria from July 30 - till August 14 2014 we updated the artist portrait, first shown in our podcast in 2010.

Hollerer makes conceptual extractions from urban space – yet there is no way of a back transfer as he abstracts to signs and thinks in and with the exhibition space. An artist portrait.

The broken symmetries to be found on construction sites are Clemens Hollerers source of inspiration – the states of transition, the destruction, chaos, mistakes and surprises, but also the clear structures, patterns and colors.

By using objects made of construction material Hollerer shifts the focal points of attention within a given space. The spaces he is confronted with inspire him, with his quasi narrative sculptures he designs a peculiar orientation system for the perception of the exhibition space.

His method of operation is an analogy to a scanning of the architectural particularities, a gauging of their specific conditions and their identification. The building-site aesthetics call technical constructions to mind, but remain opaque to any intents of interpretation or assignment of a defined functionality.

The visible structure of the interior space and its surfaces is partly emphasized by his artistic intervention; the objects within the room confront the viewer with the dimensionality of the space itself but also with the sheer material of the existing building structure.

The works appear like assemblages and with their assembly technique, the flat materials like the wooden planks on the smooth wall surface and floor insinuate a three-dimensional form, and they seem to be announcing something. Hollerer’s ability to combine the components in unusual ways within the exhibition space, to charge them with additional tension, or to leave them within open processes, surprisingly brings forth the intrinsic poetry of the used elements.

The installations do not impose themselves but neither do they allow for any withdrawal, they occupy the space in their distinct way. They are at the same time heavy and fragile, monumental and ephemeral, very physical, playful, deliberately trashy – and humane, in proportion or appearance. Whatever is built, carpentered, and painted by Hollerer has a presence but does not exaggerate, seems strange but not threatening.

His non-mannerist style and his directness give the impression that he has just designed his piece on the spot. As he claims, he attaches great importance to spontaneous ideas – he distrusts long planning in advance and lets the space take its effect on him. The presence of his objects, so compelling to the viewer, are the outcome of a staged skepticism, towards the material as well as towards the objects themselves, even though his pieces always display a high level of craftsmanship and precision. This craftsmanship is owed to his acknowledged fondness of the material on the one hand, but probably also to a consistent mindset that does not have a direct receiver but is rather vectored against itself – together with the appeal of a sarcastic sense of humor this accounts for the touching quality of his work.

Many of his works have their origin in an immediate reaction to the environment of their presentation and ultimately they are removed, destroyed and recycled at the end of the exhibition. At this point a political message could be deduced, but actually the installations act as sculptures, even if they contain obvious references to the structures of society and their problematic emissions.

Hollerer’s exuberant lust for functionality, paired with the question about the justification of art, leads us to his reality. Accomplished and implemented, the pieces are objects of art that are indeed prototypes, insinuating a reality that proves imaginary under closer scrutiny.
(Text written by Cem Angeli). An artist-portrait by CastYourArt. | castyourart.com

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