Katharina Fengler

Katharina Fengler

Work from her oeuvre.

“…We probably could have a long conversation now about the terms “pure” and “authentic”. But I have to laugh a bit… did he mean by “vacuum” that he perceives a lot of contemporary art as empty and shallow? I think I understand to some extent what he means. And I can also relate to what you say about your work, but I find it difficult to try to describe this phenomena of collag- ing or sampling and these questions of pureness and authenticity through generalizing. To think of something as “pure” or “authentic” is also just a concept or an idea which means that in the end it is just a belief. One can believe a lot of things. If someone thinks pureness comes from knowing how to apply oil on a canvas, that is fine, if it serves some purpose. To me authenticity has more to do with trying to be true to oneself and knowing oneself (as good as one can), like the Temple of Apollo at Delphi suggests. But this is also just what I believe. In general I find it more important to become aware of one’s beliefs and not mistake them for the one and only truth. I also see that you and I already belong to a generation that is very much influenced by this overflow of information and malinformation through the internet. It seems that for our generation (and perhaps even more for the younger ones) it is just not very likely to stick to one medium and do the same thing over and over again, hoping to become a master in that field. There is just so much out there that is in- fluencing and interesting. It has also become a newer form of expression to touch all these interests on the surface without getting too deep into them. At the same time I am just thinking that this kind of practice isn’t at all that new, when I think of Paul Thek, for example. To me he actually stands for both – the romantic artist figure as well as someone who referenced a lot of different genres. I only see that some artists today are taking this wild mixture of references and materials to another extreme. Then again, I can appreciate the paintings that Jonathan Lasker makes, who has been doing the same kind of work for decades – but I would never be able to only work in such a way. I guess I am drawn to both, the “authentic-romantic-living-on-an-island-dwelling-on-escapism” kind of
artist figure and the shaken up A.D.D. kind of artist – the one who uses so many cultural references that everything starts to seem kind of random, and decoding becomes very difficult…” – Katharina Fengler excerpted from an interview with Vanessa Safavi.