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Mariano Rinaldi Goñi (MAO)
Walküren
28. Juli – 09. September 2006

Eröffnung: 27. Juli, 18 – 22 Uhr, durch Katharina Wagner, Opernregisseurin, und Hartmut Koschyk, MdB

Zur Ausstellung erscheint ein Katalog.

Mit seiner neuen Werkreihe „Walküren" setzt Mariano Rinaldi Goñi (MAO) seine Bearbeitung und Neuinterpretation von Frauengestalten der (überwiegend nor­di­­schen) Mythologie fort, die ihn schon seit Jahren beschäftigt. Die mytholo­gi­schen Halbgöttinnen erscheinen hier in einer eindeutig zeitgenössischen Re­in­kar­na­tion. Schlank, jung, sportlich, der aktuellen Mode in Figur und Körperge­stal­­tung – etwa in Piercings oder Tä­towierungen – entsprechend, haben diese Frau­en eine sehr moderne eroti­sche Ausstrahlung. MAOs Arbeit in Se­rien schafft eine erzählerische Struktur, die der komplexen Symbolik der Bil­der voll gerecht wird. In Anlehnung an Richard Wag­ners Oper „Die Walkü­re" und im Rück­griff auf die Originalquellen gelingt ihm eine zeitgenössisch relevante Ver­arbeitung des mythologischen The­mas. Der Bezug zu anderen Kunstformen – Litera­tur, Mythologie und Thea­ter – wird somit im Sinne von Wagners Gesamt­kunst­werk noch durch das Musi­ka­lische (sowie einer Klang­installation von Pao­lo Casalini) er­gänzt.

MAOs Wal­küren sind kei­ne mild lächelnden klassisch-griechi­schen Göttin­nen, auch keine selig-ver­klärten Jungfrauen oder passiv sich hingebenden Ve­nus­gestal­ten, sondern un­gestüme, dämonische Fu­rien. Das dionysische Ele­ment er­scheint in voller Wucht in Tanz, Gesang, Trun­kenheit, Wildheit, unge­bän­digter Sexualität, Lei­den­schaft und Kampflust. Hier tobt die Schlacht der Ge­schlechter, die in der Gegenwart wieder voll entbrannt ist. Sinnlich und her­ausfordernd, erscheinen diese moderne Frau­en den Män­nern gefährlich und ver­führerisch zugleich. Das Sich-Verlieren in Körper und Geist, Eroberungen und Niederlagen, die Ver­let­zun­gen, die Möglichkeiten der Täuschung, der Fin­ten und Kriegs­listen, des Be­trugs und des Verrates, all das finden wir in ver­dich­teter Form in die­sen fantastischen We­sen wie­der. Unverkrampft emanzi­piert im Wis­sen um die Macht der eigenen Reize, spielen sie selbstbewusst das alte Spiel der Geschlechter: Göttinnen in der Tat, aber von dieser Welt.

[Text: Martin Oskar Kramer]

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Mariano Rinaldi Goñi (MAO)
Walküren (Valkyries)
28 July – 09 September, 2006

Opening reception: Thursday, 27 July, 6 – 10 p.m.
The exhibition will be introduced by Katharina Wagner, opera director and great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner as well as Hartmut Koschyk, MdB.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue.

With his new series “Valkyries” Mariano Rinaldi Goñi (MAO) continues his exploration and reinterpretation of female figures of (mostly Nordic) mythology that he has been working on for years. In his paintings, the mythic demi-goddesses appear in an unambiguously contemporary reincarnation. Slender, young, sexy, up to date in figure and body shaping – such as piercings and tattoos – these women exude a very current erotic vibrancy. The images are marked by a complex symbolic structure, which is complemented by MAO’s preference for working in series. With their temporal sequence, the altarpieces inevitably create a narrative progression that explicitly refers to specific acts in Wagner’s opera “The Valkyrie”. The relationship to other forms of art – literature, mythology and theater – is thus, very much in the spirit of Wagner’s “total work of art”, complemented by the element of music (also in the sound installation by Paolo Casalini).

The operatic-theatrical effect of the images also results from the unusual working process. The paintings are based on photographs taken of the models while enacting the mythological events. The rendering of the faces bears witness to MAO’s new interest in portraiture, while the bodies are still executed in cubism-inspired structures of lines. MAO’s approach to his images through drawing, however, is increasingly complemented by a purely painterly fusion of hues, and the intensified use of varnishes bestows a new lustrous depth to the images. In terms of painting, both an orientation towards Romantic art can be discerned, especially in the dark Nordic landscape elements recalling Arnold Böcklin, as well as a return to the Spanish tradition of Velásquez and his followers.

In content, too, the images are inspired by Romanticism, above all in the mannerist exaggerated representation of extreme emotional states. MAO’s Valkyries are no gently smiling classical Greek goddesses, nor are they blissfully transfigured virgins or passively reclining Venuses, but they are tumultuous, demonic furies. The Dionysian element appears with vehemence in dance, song, drunkenness, ferocity, unfettered sexuality, passion, and combativeness. The Valkyries brought slain heroes from the battleground to Valhalla and were therefore long taken to be harbingers of death. MAO’s modern Valkyries, on the other hand, are bristling with a zest for life. The battleground they roam is an¬other battleground, one where everything is permitted and no prisoners are taken, to wit the presently fully erupted battle of the sexes. No longer helpless victims of male dominance and whim, they have retaken the helm and have once again become equal, if not superior, contenders on the field. Sensual and challenging, these modern women appear dangerous and seductive all at once, for the danger that is part of seduction is itself an inevitable lure: the danger of losing oneself in body and mind, the injuries and humiliations, the possibilities of deception, of feints and stratagems, of betrayal and infidelity, of unpleasant consequences, all of that appears condensed and intensified in these fantastical beings. Emancipated not in the sense of a rejection of men, but with full knowledge of the power of their allure, they are brimming with self-confidence in playing the age-old game of the sexes: goddesses indeed, but of this world.

[Text: Martin Oskar Kramer]