
fragmented drawing cycle, graphic as installation
Eight sheets, each 140x196cm, [Total dimensions when placed next to each other: 1120x196cm], Pencil/paper, owned by the artist
The Medea drawing, intended as a frieze, was realized in the vacant event room of Villa Nagel during the Covid19 pandemic from December 2020 to May 2022. Framed in eight parts, the self-contained cycle measuring 196x1120cm can be arranged as desired.
The individual sheets, each measuring 140x196cm, are overdrawn with a grid of 49x7cm, resulting in 64 fragments as sections of the entire field, which can be viewed digitally on the screen or analogue as a print, in any arrangement, or as individual graphics.
References to Klimt’s “Beethoven Frieze” are not purely coincidental.
The series is dedicated to the figure of Medea from Greek mythology. The composition is dominated by the central figure of the jealous avenger. By playing with the density and pressure of the individual pencil strokes, Kunisch achieves a high-contrast image impression that lacks no color due to the almost infinite shades of gray. The individual sheets of the work are each divided into eight further fragments by a grid.
Like the sculpture “Sisyphos”, the graphic will be part of the artist’s virtual showroom, which will open in autumn 2023. There, viewers can explore and purchase the individual fragments, isolated and enlarged, in addition to the overall compositions.
The formal language breaks and plays with the type of a traditional, academically formulated drawing and the anachronistic theme from Greek mythology. At the same time, the constellation of figures, the surfaces and construction lines, the visible drawing aids and the technical perfection create an overall picture that also addresses the process itself in art. The digital expansion of the work also gives it a contemporary dimension.
Kunisch writes about this work and his preoccupation with mythology: “Myths have never happened, but they happen constantly and are consequently constantly expanded due to subjective experiences and their overcoming with the immanent and temporary means available to any culture. It is intentionally not an interpretation of the traditional Medea myth, but rather the myth serves as a source of inspiration to add a further interpretation in fragments to the complex relationship conflict between woman and man based on the traditional myth.