Bernhard Buhmann | Jagannath

In his paintings a “fragile order” can be discerned, “one that is not frightening per se, but nonetheless points to the uncertainties of human existence”, Bernhard Buhmann affirms in conversation. He explains the title of his exhibition at Charim Galerie by referring to the festival that Hindus celebrate every year in honour of “JAGANNATH”. Jagannath is the supreme Hindu god, “the source of everything, the source of all creation”, and during this festival his statue is pulled by a multitude of men on a mighty, splendid chariot to the summer temple.

When it comes to Bernhard Buhmann’s painting and his artistic concerns, what matters is less the spiritual content of the Hindu faith and its associated rituals than the striking image of the processional chariot on which the statue of the god and the cult objects are piled up. The power of a mass set in motion by hundreds of men was used by Anthony Giddens – a sociologist at the University of Cambridge and one of the most prominent thinkers in his field – as an example of the formative action of subjects who set a mass in motion that then follows its own laws. Just as modernity set capitalism in motion, or as today the flow of the swarm in social media brings about a loss of control from which individuals cannot escape, and which at times renders the circumstances of one’s own life uncontrollable.

Both aspects, the fragile equilibrium and the power of mass movement, come together in Bernhard Buhmann’s paintings. Forms stacked on a baseline, partly concealing or overlapping one another, structure the picture plane, while sweeping lines and chromatic correspondences between contoured objects create a balanced suspension. Shading also creates a sense of space and conveys a heaviness that in turn seeks balance. Visible underpainting and semi-transparent glazes lead the eye back to the process of painting, in which the forms, surfaces, figures and colours set in motion come together on a single picture plane and are held in suspension: just for a moment! For a possible disintegration and drifting apart, which keeps Bernhard Buhmann’s paintings alive, also makes palpable the unrest that art per se holds in store. It follows no recognisable purpose and prompts questions about meanings that are supposed to give the work sense beyond aesthetic pleasure.

“Jagannath” and the interpretations associated with it sketch out just such a horizon of meaning, from which, in this particular case, the motifs of disquiet and fragile order can be drawn. The successful work brings things to rest, reduces dissonance and creates harmony in moments of aesthetic pleasure. For the moment! For the headlong ride knows no standstill: the colours and forms set in motion dissolve, begin to communicate with one another and follow their own laws. Mischievous emojis seem to wink at us from the pictures, drawing us, the viewers, into their high-spirited goings-on as well. With lucid powers of seduction they could stage a wicked game of supposed closeness and confusing animation. In this flow of self-presentation we whirl our selves about, reinvent ourselves and, from the loose fragments of a person once felt to be individual, create temporary appearances. Only movement, dissolution and recombination offer a hold! Bernhard Buhmann’s paintings follow and stage this whirling standstill, only to then capture it in stillness.

The stacking of the pictorial elements, their combination and shaping, also turns the paintings into oversized portraits, and the equilibrium stabilised within them conveys a contemplative calm. The mimetic impression of being looked at by the painting thus dispels the unrest of the desire for meaning, for being seen and being recognised touches our centre and creates harmony. Bernhard Buhmann lays the trail that this reflection follows with a childhood memory. Playing with colourful building blocks, he built towers that will surely have toppled over time and again. A game in which the frustration of things falling apart is still softened by the soothing looks and encouragement of parents. In the process, children also discover the pleasure of destruction and rebuilding as a power of their own.

Moments of this background of experience resonate in the paintings and enter the force field of the decentring masses in motion of our present-day world. The dual character of the paintings conveys, on the one hand, sociological findings in their individual form and, on the other, creates a contemplative centre. In this sense our exhibition is the result of, and testimony to, the condition of our world in the attempt to find answers through pictorial means.

Bernhard Buhmann (b. 1979, Bregenz) studied sociology and painting in Vienna, where he lives and works. He has had numerous exhibitions in Austria and abroad (for example in Dubai, New York, Los Angeles and Dallas). His works are held in the following collections: Strabag Kunstforum, Vienna; Illwerke VKW Corporate Collection, Vienna; Farook Foundation, Dubai; SPM: Salsali Private Museum; CCA Andratx Foundation, Mallorca; Cleveland Clinic Art Collection, Abu Dhabi; Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH.