DANIEL GRÜTTNER OUT OF THE WEB

A central artistic phenomenon preoccupying Daniel Grüttner in his work is the fundamental consideration of how, in the creative process, a flat surface can be established and captured beyond the flat canvas without becoming rigid. Precisely because color is not the primary focus in the Out of the Web series, this process becomes an appealing visual challenge for the viewer. In this seemingly minimalist series, he confidently manages to strike a balance in the monochrome pictorial space, dovetailing those individual types of strokes and spoils that seem merely ephemeral gestures in such a way that they form a convincing composition and yet appear fleeting. Pentimenti are hardly possible here, as they would undoubtedly stand out as visible traces.

It is impressive how Grüttner manages to capture the essence of his painterly thought in his images, despite the monochrome backgrounds in yellow or blue and, for the most part, a colorless white-gray. What's more, the monocromacy underscores the consistency of his painterly universe and at the same time recalls his multicolored work, which thus appears all the more radical. On the other hand, the abstract pictorial spaces of the no less complex monochromatic compositions convey an unusual sense of calm compared to his familiar impulsive color worlds. When viewed as a whole, it is striking that here, too, the question of form and non-form is beyond discussion. Instead, the image is kept in a state of emergence and transience, rendering the search for a motif obsolete – a conceptual decision that can be considered the ultimate in abstract painting, but which rarely proves convincing.