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DR. ILONA VICHOVÁ
The Process is the Message

 

For around ten years now, elementary record has lain at the heart of the visual language of Nosch, produced by drawing in paint on a canvas or paper structure or, in contrast, on the completely smooth surface of an aluminium plate. Rather than a brush, that ancient instrument, a stick is employed, thus putting the track of the colour completely beyond the limits of any artist’s handwriting and rendering it autonomous. The nature of such a track is obviously dictated by the kind of base, the surface of the stick and the amount of paint applied. These are the factors that may be considered objective, since the artist selects from the potential of the material given. On the other hand, the subjective aspect in the artistic process behind Nosch’s pictures may be found in setting the direction of the individual strokes and in the speed of their execution, in the selection of colours and in the determination of their combinations. Individual strokes are either led horizontally or are confronted with vertical lines, so that the picture area forms a rectangular grid. The selection of colours is the most intuitive element in Nosch’s art. The viewer’s primary perception of this finds a reflection of the artist’s inner charge, a spontaneous statement of artistic experience, and may even disclose some hidden symbolism within. Naturally, colours possess qualities that trigger the emotions, but in Nosch’s pictures one encounters far wider issues involved in the handling of colour schemes: the manner in which an actual tone is employed in relation to a particular material and the way in which it is applied and integrated into the picture system are more important than the immediate effect of a colour area.

In terms of the colour schemes employed, Nosch’s output falls into two categories. There are paintings typified by exalted colour schemes of rich red, green, yellow and blue, offset by predominantly monochrome pictures with shades of grey, ochre and white. Upon completion, the canvases are stretched onto deep frames, the sides of which function as equal bearers of the visual record. Nosch’s paintings thus appear to loom out to space towards the viewer and become artefacts at the frontiers between easel painting and object. In contrast, his paper sheets place the emphasis on subtlety and dematerialisation. These follow from the lightness of the material, as well as from the uneven edges of the individual colour tracks and the manner of installation. Paper sheets are freely hung in front of a wall or mounted in boxes in which they are fixed before a base.
Nosch concentrates his art upon direct records of real processes, not on conveying what is seen or an inner model, as occurs in that branch of visual art in which the objective is illusion. The application of a certain paint in a chosen direction, with a stick, constitutes a specific event for him, rendered visually present by a colour track.





This event takes place within in a finite time and triggers accompanying sub–events such as friction, with rough canvases nearly jamming motion, with the swift absorptive qualities of paper sheets and with smooth glide made available by aluminium bases. “Reading” these records, the viewer may retrace the processes in his or her mind and perceive individual images as “projects” of a process. In the light of this, one might observe that Nosch’s art is highly conceptual.


The colour track in Nosch’s pictures has the character of a drawing. Soft and solid lines, both thick and thin, are compressed into wide tracks and colour areas. A number of artists who have abandoned the classic principles of painting employ this concept, among them Otto Zitko, Bernard Frize and Czech artists Jiří Matějů and Petr Kvíčala in the European context. Despite whatever differences exist in their artistic thinking, one can see in their output a common use of a line of colour as the bearer of direct expression. In addition, Nosch works with the base and its technical properties (absorption) and aesthetic qualities (structure), using these as a points of departure. He classifies the base as an initial element; at the same time, he allows it to interact with the surrounding records in the final image. The point of departure becomes the objective, the circle closes logically – a reference to the basic principles of the world. The awareness of this connection and the complementarity of phenomena such as intention and randomness, the constant and the variable, the beginning and end, origin and decline, is inherent to the artist’s sensitivity. It is the correlation between intellect and intuition. It is also the reason why Nosch’s oeuvre is filled with rare balance and inner stability.

Dr. Ilona Víchová


> René Zechlin Einführung zu Poetische Systeme in der
Galerie Marianne Heller, Heidelberg, 10. März 2024

> Dr. Tobias Güthner Einführung Ausstellung Nosch am 8.7.2023

> Rasmus Kleine zur Ausstellung »Dinge lesen«

> Maresa Bucher Choreographie der Farbe

> Nosch – Poetische Systeme 1 – 3

> Zdenek Primus Im Staub des Ateliers gefunden:
Kunststücke; 2015

Dr. Ilona Víchová The Process is the Message
in the catalog to the exhibition “Nosch—paintings and works on paper”, brno–gallery; 2011

> Dr. Frank Schmidt Nosch – Transparenz der Farbe
im Katalog »Szenenwechsel 2003/04 «
Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt


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