"REAL LIFE MATTERS"
Felix Grütsch
2019 -2020
Artist Statement
In the 500-meter panorama "REAL LIFE MATTERS", different cultures and values encounter, leading to mutual enrichment and appreciation, thus following the motto of the SAPPORO INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVAL 2020: “Real” people living in and around Sapporo, combined with people representing nations, views of life, social classes, political and social positions, to form a utopian group portrait as a loan to the future. With a precision owed to long practice, the diversity of life emerges from this digital storytelling, combining drawing and painting in a pragmatic, pop-art-ish working process. The monumental panorama in Sapporo revolves around the contradiction that lies in the two formats involved, where the gigantic format, usually conveying an idealization, is infiltrated by the subversive format of political satire, revealing what lies behind the obvious. At the same time, it makes a transition between digital virtuality and the reality of the space where it unfolds.
My work directly reflects the people I met in Japan, and will be especially influenced by the immediacy and artistic clarity I found in the life and culture of the Ainu, the indigenous Japanese people. For the exhibition "Japan revisited" I would like to go one step further and show Austrians and Japanese in real situations with each other. This exhibition would consist of seven large-format pictures printed on a textile background.
Artist Bio
I was born in 1971 in Schlanders, South Tyrol, Italy, and have been living and working in Vienna since 1995. My art ranges from installations and projects in public space, actions, performances, videos, and conceptual art (especially via social media) to computer drawings, ready-mades, sculptural objects, and graphic décor for architectural projects. I have done several city installations where huge drawn portraits of city dwellers dominate the cityscape who are otherwise dwarfed by the overpowering architecture and technology. Since 2017, using the alias „Felix Grütsch“, I create newspaper cartoons and „swarming GIFs“ placed in social media like TikTok.