Untitled (Chromatics), UP&CO @ EK STUDIO, Düsseldorf, 2024

ERINNA KÖNIG
Untitled (Chromatics)
Works 1974 – 1992
Film: Oscar B. or The Imperialism

All in the universe contains all colours. We however only see those that are personally accessible to us depending on object, subject and situation : at night, all cats look grey.

History as written by mankind follows in manner: The winner writes history, mostly in black and white, good and bad. Physical, biological, personal, cultural, societal elements act like filters altering our life experience resulting in selective awareness. We feel, see, hear what we can, may or want to … feel, see, hear, recognize.

Erinna Königs work prompts us to question readily formed cognitive and behavioural patterns. How we experience the world and what we do with that will write history’s next chapter.

Works 1982 - 1992

1982. Leaving the protest years of the 70s behind Erinna König reconnects to her younger self at the Düsseldorf Academy and re-focuses on found objects as source materials. With both subtle and bold interventions she choreographs her ‘objets trouvés’ into complex compositions that both incorporate and challenge accepted forms of perception in society and art.

Into the work she pours not only the physicality of the objects, but also their provenance and cultural charge. The result is a very versatile oeuvre invoking reflection and curiosity while bridging forms of expression varying in themselves as much as Minimal Art and Arte Povera.

The versatility of both base materials and Erinna Königs interventions serve the artist well. Rejecting the confines of a specific genre they form a perfect baseline for a continued path of discovery. The 3m stainless steel “Countertop” (cover image) is a large imposing rectangular shape, and yet as kitchen surface is designed to serve and be worked upon. “Untitled”, a square frame stretched with large-gauge knitted fabric is generously painted over in white. On one side the end of the fabric casually drapes over the edge like the sleeve of a T shirt. Direct and reductionist yet soft, white and ‘female’, the splurging over the edge defies - or pokes fun at - the idea of strict minimalism.

‘Form Picture’ is a wooden cutout of Erinna König’s own torso outline painted with diagonal rectangles in ‘Mondrian colours’, alas giving the impression of an elegant art-apron. The waistline acts as vertical midline leveling the entire exhibition.

‘Kitchen part’ appears to be an upside down kitchentable without legs, the ‘Washing Board’ again derived from a female terrain becomes a blind window due to the rippled and cut waves in the otherwise clear glass. This piece in particular lets us consider the question of technical and societal progress - and lack thereof. This group of work closes with ‘Piece of Rose’ - a directional shaped piece of commercial carpeting in a mix of red and black, brusquely attached to a rough piece of wood.

In 'Blackboard Picture’, the blank blackboard is hidden behind a door perfectly crafted from an empty wooden tooltray. ‘Wallpiece’ shows the historical traces of architectural interventions, and the ‘Double Window Picture’ is a composite of shutter parts: geometric forms square as well as linear - while sharing aspects of harem windows.