"While the diversity of media he employs – painting, drawing, collage, spatial installation, sculpture, video, book and object – places his work beyond easy definition, his thematic and formal references defy any categorisation. His vocabulary ranges from Christian, satanist, astrological or mythological symbolism to recollections from art history, like Malevich’s “Black Square”, which he quotes with a pair of vampiric fangs added. Without any discernible preference, he juxtaposes figures from Hollywood, pop culture and comic strip with icons of modernism or sci-fi, and confronts elements of horror from western mass media with the disgraced, banned stylistic features that mark the art of the Third Reich. Andreas Hofer evokes characters that exist in the uncanny of a familiar world while acting in a field of indeterminacy that offers no promises of any rules, limits or security. A Christ-like figure with a blessing hand is revealed to be Charles Manson, a village scene turns into a launch site for space rockets. Similarly unexpectedly, votive pictures or African folkloristic symbols can be seen returning to the realm of an art influenced by Ensor, Goya, Blake and Warhol." - quote source.
"Reich", Acrystal, silicone, 2006
Click here to see a much larger photo of the above painting.
The Art Crawl blog has a handful of drawing/collages from Hofer that will be at the Metro Pictures gallery in New York at the end of March. Click here to see a photo tour of the show from the gallery website.
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