Anja Hitzenberger. von haus aus

03.05.2017 - 10.06.2017

Galerie Reinthaler, Wien / Österreich

Galerie Reinthaler presents “von Haus aus”, a new photography, video and installation work by artist Anja Hitzenberger, who has been working with the theme of food for several years now: what does food mean to us? How does it affect us? How do we interact with it?

Hitzenberger’s recent work includes “Extra Large”, a playful look at images of food found in advertising in public spaces. Another series, “Still Life”, depicts carelessly discarded food, left behind on streets and sidewalks — garbage representing things pushed aside and forgotten.... “Chinese Fast Food” grants a glimpse into visually overloaded food stands inside the Olympic Park in Beijing, and “98/330 lb (44/150 kg)” compares the different physical presence of a very heavy man imitating the poses of a super-thin fashion model. The sugary cakes and donuts featured in the series “Pink” questions eating habits in an ironic way.

The new photographs featured in this exhibition send us on a walk through the rooms of the former butcher shop “Fleischerei Sterkl”, which was located in Vienna’s Ottakring neighborhood and closed in 2014. These images are not just a documentary depiction of a shut-down family business, but are rather a journey through the past.
Hitzenberger selects intimate visual details of the former retail store, the “Wurschtzimmer” where sausages were made, as well as the former apartment of the family. The viewer wonders about how people used to live and work in those days.

In the living room one can still see the imprint of picture frames that have been removed from the walls. Only a few objects have been left behind. Sharp meat hooks trigger uncomfortable feelings. As well, the ominous sausage-slicer, with its red-brownish marks on the floor don’t quite invite us to linger. Such motives evoke an imaginary story within the viewer's mind.
Compositionally, the depicted objects are often cropped, geometrically evenly distributed or centered. Hitzenberger intensifies the object’s visual presence and its relationship to the individual space. The color palette of white, red and brown recurs throughout this series. These “beautiful” photographs are in contrast with regard to the content and depiction of dissolution and isolation.

As part of the exhibition, a Zine will be published with additional photographs of this series, including a special signed edition of 30 books that include a small print each.

[Quelle: http://www.agnesreinthaler.com/]