Charlotte Klobassa and Raphaela Riepl take away (near you)

Charlotte Klobassa I Raphaela Riepl
take away (near you)
7 December, 2023 – 27 January, 2024

Franz-Josefs-Kai 3/16, 3rd floor
1010 Vienna

Opening hours
Wed – Fri 12 am – 6 pm
Sat 12 am – 4 pm

With the current exhibition take away (near you), Collectors Agenda initiates a dialogue between Charlotte Klobassa (*1987, Vienna) and Raphaela Riepl (*1985, Linz).

Charlotte Klobassa’s art is defined by a critical engagement with the medium of painting, where the artist examines her own shortcomings and endeavours to highlight the characteristics of gestural expression. Collecting sample notes or scribbles left by customers in stationery stores to test pens, Klobassa enlarges and processes these gestural and spontaneously formed shapes into her large-scale “Scribbles” during the artistic process. The affective and impulsive gestures are emphasised, and the anthropomorphic forms, to which Klobassa pays human tribute, become a mirror for the viewers. She attempts to shape both herself and the other.

Raphaela Riepl’s artistic work is deeply rooted in an exploration of atmosphere, movement, gesture, light, air, space, and time. In her restrained material aesthetic, she weaves these themes together, allowing a finely nuanced space for emotions and sensual experiences to unfold. Raphaela Riepl’s works possess an atmospheric quality, where the intensity and perception depend on the time of day and the duration of observation. They seem to connect with the space and interact with their surroundings. In their materiallessness, they transcend the physical as luminous gestures, expanding the space for drawing or reimagining the possibilities for this medium.

In the juxtaposition, Charlotte Klobassa’s gestural-painterly works form an intriguing connection with Raphaela Riepl’s subtle language in the form of light. The exhibition title take away (near you) refers to simple fast food, its constant availability and the casualness with which humans satisfy their hunger every day. Both artists devote new attention to unassuming moments, insignificant gestures and other mundanities of daily life and honour them by emphasizing and re-contextualizing them.

At the core of the artistic creation process for both artists is drawing, considered the most intuitive and impulsive of all forms of expression. Previously unarticulated ideas and intentions quickly take shape. Both works seem to precede a delicate and sensual process of finding an essence, which the artists, however, develop in very different ways. In Raphaela Riepl’s case, the original drawing finds expression in light and air, while Charlotte Klobassa meticulously translates it into a painterly form. In both cases, there is an intense engagement with the originally sensory-impulsive act of drawing. In the case of Charlotte Klobassa’s collected pen samples, the first step was even completely unconsciously executed by a person unrelated to the artistic process and subsequently receives heightened attention.

In the space a new small-scale painting series by Charlotte Klobassa, titled Signature Moves, can be found. The paintings feature reproductions of “Scribbles” as they have become characteristic of the artist. However, this time, instead of canvas, she chooses a silky fabric that provides for a milky, semi-transparent background, extending beyond the limits of the frame, thereby expanding the gestural brushstroke. In accordance with her established approach, Klobassa also varies and adapts her characteristic forms regarding colour and composition, establishing subtle connections between individual works. Another work, Good Flirt, that combines further typical gestures and elements from the artist's formal language, is present in the exhibition space.

In response to the aesthetics arising from the subtle and the in-between, Raphaela Riepl also initially turns to the medium of drawing as the essential starting point. A newly created series of wall works, Assorted Flavors, consisting of four neon objects that glow on organically shaped panels, can be seen in the room as a representative example of this. The small-format works are further contextualised by the larger work al Lampone. Through the carefully chosen colour composition, the artist creates an ethereal effect in the works, which becomes even more impressive in the dark. While the gestural drawing remains recognizable in its sharp outlines during daylight, the works undergo a transformation in darkness. The drawn form extends beyond the platform, establishing a fluid, immaterial connection with the space and surrounding works. The sculpture, Tactile Memories (Friend 1)placed in the middle of the space seems to entertain a special relationship with Good Flirt by Charlotte Klobassa.

The artistic dialogue between Charlotte Klobassa and Raphaela Riepl is characterised by an intuitive, organic, and carefully orchestrated expression. On the one hand, a connection is forged between the reduced, intuitive formal language, and on the other, the aspiration to make the sublime perceptible between the forms becomes evident. The common theme of the “in-between” is inherent and subtly united in a restrained material aesthetic. Opportunities for reflection on artistic creation processes are opened without pursuing a concrete narrative.

Text: Livia Klein
Photos: Florian Langhammer