Vernissage: LEO RUMERSTORFER

"I have always been interested in the cryptic, the hidden behind the obvious, the layers beneath the surface. Again and again it is encrypted in my images, some may find it, others may not. That is part of the game."
Leo Rumerstorfer

Without any special art training, Leo Rumerstorfer began painting copies of classical masters with pastel chalks and similar materials on the streets in the pedestrian zones of various Central European cities. Around the same time, the first watercolors and oil paintings emerged, in which the search for his own, distinctive style was already visible. Later, through his collaboration (which still exists) with the German Gothic band "Umbra et Imago" (and their side project "Dracul"), further influences and inspirations were added. For these band(s) he created, among other things, album covers and participated with painting performances in some of their live shows on stage or other joint events.
Today he works mainly in acrylic on specially treated hardboard panels, mostly in a standard format (depending only on whether portrait or landscape orientation). In addition, and to a much lesser extent, pen drawings colored (mostly) with watercolor have been created again recently.

"My works are often associated with Surrealism. Of course, that is not entirely wrong. However, I do not see myself so much as a Surrealist - the Pre-Raphaelites and the representatives of Symbolism in 19th century England (and the latter also in France) are emotionally closer to me. Somehow transferred into our - without making much judgment - quite unstable times..."

Although his style changes more or less pronounced at intervals of varying duration, Leo Rumerstorfer still tries to let his own handwriting be recognized, with influences, borrowings and sometimes also quotations from the works of classical masters, Symbolism, the Pre-Raphaelites, some photorealism up to Art Nouveau and sometimes also into abstraction being used (and mostly depending on the basic theme). The prevailing themes can certainly be understood or interpreted as socially critical, whereby the artist (as mentioned at the beginning in the quote) does not want to commit to certain things in order to give space to the cryptic, the not immediately comprehensible, in which the viewer comes to his own mysticism and vague suspicion, which stands in contrast to a world of facts and everything explainable.

"It is not one of the tasks of art to answer questions - but it is one of its tasks to ask questions".

His exhibitions are (insofar as the surroundings permit) designed to be as space-encompassing as possible; the relatively large formats want to assert themselves in this space, to make it their own. A world of images into which one can let oneself fall, from the entire context into the labyrinth of numerous fine details; perhaps also an invitation to spend time with the painting and explore it like an initially unfamiliar area.

"Of course, the opening, the inauguration of the presentation, is always part of the overall concept. Clearly it depends on the surroundings, what possibilities present themselves, often these are very different. I like being able to vary, to engage in a play with the local conditions. This can take many forms - from very quiet, calm and almost silent to colorful, loud and opulent. But I do not want to reveal too much. It should be different each time, and if there is the occasional surprise, that is of course an enrichment".

"If the collaboration with Umbra et Imago, or Dracul, leaves traces in this, one can of course also regard that as a welcome element".

"The title of the project at WinStage - NATIONAL GALLERY OF NO MAN'S LAND - refers to the fact that art is primarily regarded as common property, as easily accessible to all, without immediately asserting claims of ownership. Similar to a kind of cloud, which one could at least in a figurative sense regard as something like a freely accessible no man's land, a place that - among other things, of course - is also suitable for meeting, exchanging and engaging with what is offered, without obligation. To what extent this basic idea is to be further refined, intensified and continued beyond the WinStage project is currently unclear. But it is fundamentally not to be ruled out".

Exhibitions so far in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic
(Solo exhibitions as well as group exhibitions).