Friedrich Kunath describes that he aims to make his paintings “feel like songs.” The logo for the band Oasis turns up in a top corner of “Sometimes I’m Almost There,” and there is a kind of surreal, set-like quality to his vibrant, cinematic works. “Kunath explores themes of distance and (re)location, where a longing emerges between the place you’re in and the place you’re destined to be,” says a statement for his exhibition The Nearest Faraway Place,presented by Pace in Seoul.
The artist taps into art history with compositions redolent of the tradition of Weltlandschaft,or “the world landscape,” which can be traced to the Northern Renaissance. There’s also a strong nod to the Hudson River School, which drew on 19th-century European Romanticism. Kunath tips in references to pop culture, from the ubiquitous “The End” marking the finale of theatrical releases and phrases superimposed on uncanny situations, like the eponymous painting “The most beautiful world in the world” depicting an existential aerial advertisement.
Kunath is known for traversing realms of pop culture, irony, and fiction, often with a kind of nostalgic wistfulness and a tinge of the comedic. We’re initially drawn in to what appears like a traditional landscape, then quickly diverted by sticker-like additions of cartoonish, sometimes absurd characters.
As the basis of the artist’s works, romantic landscapes are already inherently invented; they may resemble real places, but the glistening light and idyllic absence of structures or people portray a kind of ideal. Kunath opens that door further. “By bringing together aesthetic contexts and familiar tropes, he materializes his subconscious,” the gallery says. “Feelings arise before we know where they come from.”
The Nearest Faraway Placecontinues through October 24. See more on Kunath’s Instagram.
