Andreas Fux
DIE SÜSSE HAUT
November 8, 2008 – December 24, 2008
Andreas Fux, prompted by the character and situation of the Ehegraben, has produced a large-format print for his presentation of ‘Andre’. As with a placard, this print will be fixed to the wall and left fully exposed to the elements. The parallel drawn to the vulnerable and injured skin of Andre is not unintentional, it actually emphasises the vulnerability of all material.
With ‘Die Süsse Haut’, Andreas Fux has created a series that revolves around a theme rarely presented in such a forceful manner using a dissociated but never impersonal aesthetic. There are no glossy models on show here – the fashion catwalk of self-portrayal is absent. What can be seen are sensitive insights into a world that remains closed to most or exists only as a placative idea.
Tattoos and piercings have become mainstream fashion accessories they are, however, rarely used consequentially. The courage for cuts and the accompanying blood is generally lacking. So what then is the motivation behind such ritualised activities?
Boris von Brauchitsch explicates: „Their act has something of the supplicatory about it, like the desperate search for affirmation of their own existence. It is perhaps exactly for this reason that they appear so fragile and vulnerable in their shy self-externalisation, which they want to record for themselves, for others and for the whole of posterity with photographic images. Their bodies are their lives, their history and their wish for idiosyncrasy in an appreciably aseptic and conformist environment. Their mistrust of this world is manifest when viewing their bodies and the tattoos, which one was inclined to look upon as exhibitionistic affectations, suddenly emerge as elements of armament and defence against external threats. They are archaic signs towards the outside, which depict the overcoming of pain and inner fears. Once internalised, fear and pain can no longer exercise their power. The tattoos thus become symbols of a longed-for invulnerability. With each new tattoo, the possibility of ever really being naked becomes increasingly distant.”
With ‘Die Süsse Haut’, Andreas Fux has created a series that revolves around a theme rarely presented in such a forceful manner using a dissociated but never impersonal aesthetic. There are no glossy models on show here – the fashion catwalk of self-portrayal is absent. What can be seen are sensitive insights into a world that remains closed to most or exists only as a placative idea.
Tattoos and piercings have become mainstream fashion accessories they are, however, rarely used consequentially. The courage for cuts and the accompanying blood is generally lacking. So what then is the motivation behind such ritualised activities?
Boris von Brauchitsch explicates: „Their act has something of the supplicatory about it, like the desperate search for affirmation of their own existence. It is perhaps exactly for this reason that they appear so fragile and vulnerable in their shy self-externalisation, which they want to record for themselves, for others and for the whole of posterity with photographic images. Their bodies are their lives, their history and their wish for idiosyncrasy in an appreciably aseptic and conformist environment. Their mistrust of this world is manifest when viewing their bodies and the tattoos, which one was inclined to look upon as exhibitionistic affectations, suddenly emerge as elements of armament and defence against external threats. They are archaic signs towards the outside, which depict the overcoming of pain and inner fears. Once internalised, fear and pain can no longer exercise their power. The tattoos thus become symbols of a longed-for invulnerability. With each new tattoo, the possibility of ever really being naked becomes increasingly distant.”
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