Gaeta traces the multifaceted production of Karl Stengel, between figuration and abstraction

The exhibition Karl Stengel, Between Figuration and Abstraction, dedicated to Karl Stengel (1925 - 2017), a Hungarian artist who lived through dramatic moments of the twentieth century, opens on July 3 and will be on display until August 25, 2022 at the Pinacoteca Comunale di Gaeta. In his drawings as well as in his paintings, human passions and sufferings powerfully surface, both in figurative and abstract form. Feelings that bear witness to firsthand experiences, such as the years of imprisonment in Russia during the war and the arrival of Soviet tanks in Hungary in 1956. He escaped to Germany and continued to paint inspired by literature and music. Karl always painted while listening to music in his studio. Many of his works are dedicated to a composer or performer.

Curated by Vito Abba, the exhibition presents a selection of forty medium- and large-scale works placed in four rooms that are intended to reflect Stengel’s multifaceted artistic output, characterized by both abstract works and works with varying degrees of figuration. Some drawings, markedly figurative, are inspired by Stengel’s beloved literature. References to Blaise Cendrars, Charles Bukowski, and coeval authors can be recognized in the figures that animate taverns and brothels, patrons playing cards, and disputed prostitutes. And tributes to composers and pianists, with strokes of oil pastel or brushstrokes of acrylic. In the works on paper it is possible to trace some elements of German expressionism, elaborated in a very personal way. In the more recent works, especially in the oil pastels on paper and various media, color triumphs and the typical Stengelian figure is often present, that is, a faceless silhouette silhouetted against a kind of stage or theatrical backdrop, against a sometimes dark, sometimes bright background.

The catalog will be published with the works also set in the spaces of the Pinacoteca and with a critical intervention by Marcello Carlino.

For info: https://www.pinacotecagaeta.it/

Hours: July and August, daily including holidays except Mondays, 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Tickets: 5 euros.

Gaeta traces the multifaceted production of Karl Stengel, between figuration and abstraction

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