Kinkaku-ji con fiore del Baobab
Karin Pliem
2018
Artist Statement
My artistic work is about the idea of a symbiotic coexistence of nature, culture and civilization. Nature, culture and civilization do not have to be opponents. Over thousands of years they have developed together and benefited from each other. This could still be the case in the age of industry and technology - provided that the being of the other is recognized as a value and respected in its autonomy. But man, who only exploits the wealth of nature to enrich himself, overlooks the fact that by doing so he is destroying himself. And thus also his culture. Culture is the most important link between civilization and nature. In my paintings, therefore, living and cultural creations from different areas of the world, times and imagination come together. For me, the picture is the place of a community life, a place where even the encounter of opposites is possible.
The golden pavilion of Kyoto, which in my painting ''Kinkaku-ji con fiore del Baobab'' shines behind a formation of different plants and animals from all over the world, is a building of the Kitayama culture, one of the most innovative cultural epochs in Japanese history. Besides this multicultural aspect, "Kyoto" also stands for the climate protection agreement. Its goals were the worldwide reduction of greenhouse gases and the development of renewable energies. The promising potential of this "protocol" is combined here with traditional Eastern philosophy of nature and the voices of flourishing organisms to create a retrovision of global understanding.
Artist Bio
Born 1963 in Salzburg/AT 1983–87 Academy of Applied Arts Vienna. Study trips to Asia, the South Seas and USA exhibitions selection 2013 Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge/UK; Museo Revoltella, Trieste/IT; Stadtgalerie Salzburg/AT 2015 Egon Schiele Art Centrum, Český Krumlov/CZ; Kunsthalle Wien Museumsquartier, Vienna/AT 2016 Claire Oliver Gallery, NYC/USA; Künstlerhaus Vienna; Künstlerhaus FRISE, Hamburg/GER 2017 Museum of Modern Art Carinthia, Klagenfurt/AT 2018 Université 2, Oran/Algeria; me Collectors Room, Berlin/GER; Maison de Heidelberg, Montpellier/FR 2019 Austrian Parliament, Vienna; Bildraum Bodensee, Bregenz; Kunsthaus Mürzzuschlag; Traklhaus, Salzburg; Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, JP; unttld contemporary, Vienna; 2020 Kunsthalle Nexus, Saalfelden/AT; Festival Tricky Women 2020; Galerie Walker, Carinthia/AT