(born Bregenz in 1947) “Rien ne va plus! Nichts geht mehr! Keine Treppe für Fortuna”, on the reverse signed, dated G. Bechtold 91 and the note “wieder hergestellt 2009 G. Bechtold” (the backing plate was exchanged by the artist), neon tubes, aluminium plate (anodised) 204 x 87 x 10 cm, transformer in the reverse, video installation (VHS, 95 mins, colour) including video and remote control, (K)

Exhibited:
Bregenzer Kunstverein in cooperation with the Kunsthalle Vienna;
Bregenz, Palais Thurn & Taxis, 1996 Kunsthalle Vienna in the Museumsquartier, 1996

See:
Wolfgang Fetz, Gottfried Bechtold, Edition Stemmle AG, Bregenzer Kunstverein 1996, page 370–377
”Rien ne va plus! Nichts geht mehr! Keine Treppe für Fortuna”

There are cryptic connections with Bechtold’s “Max Reneclaude”, amongst others, an anthropomorphic branch in the shape of a reclining nude. Found in 1989, the artist simply sawed it from a tree and displayed it at the Vienna Exhibition “Von der Natur in der Kunst” (1990) as a ready-made object.
In best Botticelli-style, Bechtold links woman as an icon - the artist spoke of sexual attraction as a constant in the condition of human existence (“Or why else would one drive a Ferrari?”) - with the original state of water. His neon goddess not only disappears in the waves, she also endlessly reappears. A Venus of the nineties, born from the foam: Kim Basinger as a neon animated cartoon, set on a staircase, takes the place of Simonetta Vespucci on canvas, set on the shore in Florence in the fifteenth century.
Although Gottfried Bechtold, who has also planned and partly realised other works using neon lights, is fascinated by the material itself, here he regarded it as a means of paraphrasing a “Cinematography of neon tubes” (F. Rötzer) as used in Las Vegas. Although in Las Vegas the sensual effect is certainly striking, it is itself reduced to absurdity, as only a quantitative increase is possible. Bechtold regards the use of neon light in the present work as a material quote, and the neon nude can be ultimately defined as an ironic extension of Duchamp’s “Nu descendent un escalier”, and seen as a homage to the gambler Duchamp, who constantly shifted the subjects of his art in skilful moves before giving himself over entirely to the game of chess.
Marion Piffer, Lara Fritz

Provenance:
Private Ownership, Tyrol