(born Mauthen, Carinthia in 1958) Untitled, signed, dated Heimo Zobernig/1995, on the reverse, oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, on metal stretcher, (K)

Provenance: From an Austrian Collection
Reference rather than content
All works are inscribed “untitled” in order not to limit the range of interpretations, as Zobernig himself explains. The history of the “untitled” inscription is closely linked to the formalist reductionism of modernity in which the programmatic lack of content this expresses can be understood as both autonomous and referring to the self, as well as “open”, oriented towards reception. The discrepancy between the manifest content-less nature of the works and the fullness of latent-contentual references is particularly clear in the case of Zobernig. The term “reference” has become commonly used vocabulary in 1990s artistic discourse. References are relatives or indications, referring to a work without concretely defining a central theme, or, in classic terms, giving them content by means of form. They mirror the discursive or contextual horizon of a work, one which must have always been known about or understood in order to be able to comprehend or relate to the work itself. Many artists have become reference fanatics, explaining to anyone who’ll listen to what their work relates. The reference is in fact the practice of context. To what they indeed allow themselves to be attached, and what is intended to protect them from completely arbitrary ramblings and “discourse shopping”, usually remains unclear. Zobernig’s work constantly leads to this problem. It is not particularly critical and nor is it truly oriented towards context. Yet it takes as its theme the subject of content and thus the opportunities for art to make statements…
Helmut Draxler, Heimo Zobernig, catalogue, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Vienna, 2003, published by the Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne