CIRCLES (DRAWING TIME)
Series of crircle drawings since 2001; empty ballpoint pens, ballpoint pens, pencils or color pencils on paper; 8 x 8 inches to 80 x 80 inches
Dr. Ingeborg Wiegand-Uhl, Muenchen, art historian and curator:
Helmut Kirchlechner is a drawing artist. With pencil, colored pencil or pen he draws his circles on all sizes of hand-made paper, working outward from the center. Depending on the pressure applied, the spirals can appear three-dimensionally engraved or raised, rough, fibrous or glossy. Helmut Kirchlechner finds his formative aesthetics (aware-ness) in repetition. His lines are often so delicate that they seem airborne and become immaterial. They disappear into space like the fading sound of a sting instrument. Studying his work I see constellations and stardust, and I fall again and again under this magic spell. Circle and square (paper format) are his gauge, giving structure and intimations of space. When “emptiness” invades the visual foreground, the object itself transcends its foundation.
Johannes Koegler, Frankfurt, art historian and curator:
The fascination of Helmut Kirchlechner’s approach to art lies in the contrasting elements of radical simplicity on the one hand, and intensity of the visual result on the other. If it seems that the self-imposed restriction to a single concept and a strictly defined procedure must necessarily be artistically limiting, a closer look reveals an entirely unexpected richness, combining variety of color, technique, and quality of materials charged with energy, meditative potential, and intense visual presence. What defines Helmut Kirchlechner’s artistic position is the opposite of randomness. On the contrary, the clarity and utmost conceptual reduction of his pieces reveal an unexpected sensuality and can lead to almost illimitable variations. The circle is not just any form but the simplest yet the most perfect form, a universal symbol.
COUNTERPOINT
Several thousand sketches since 1999; diverse in materials and format. A kind of intuitive diary in pictures, mostly from everyday art therapy
HELMUT KIRCHLECHNER
* 1965 in Muenchen, Bavaria
Carpenter apprenticeship with award, „the good form“
Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste Muenchen, art with Prof. Franz Weißhaar, meisterschueler
Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste Muenchen, art therapy with Prof. Gertraud Schottenloher
Art Therapy, Psychiatric Crisis Center Atriumhaus Muenchen
Akademie der Bildenden Kuenste Muenchen, teaching assignment for art therapy supervision with Prof. Senta Connert
WORKS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Bayerische Staatsgemaeldesammlungen, Muenchen
Archiv Anonymer Zeichner, Berlin
The Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn Art Library, New York
Staatskanzlei Bayern, Muenchen
Kunst+Therapie, Art Therapy Journal, editor Marion Wendlandt, Cover 2020/21
EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
Drawing as Concept #4 (Trebisonda, Perugia, Italy, 2023), The State of Affairs (Galerie Alte Brennerei, Kunstverein Ebersberg, 2022), Display Case (Best Records, near Kunstareal, Muenchen, 2019), ArtArtTherapy (Galerie Wasserschloss, Taufkirchen, 2017), Line 3 (Guenther/Zauner/Duttenhofer/Kirchlechner, Galerie Klosterschule, Kulturverein Glonn, 2015), Anonymous Drawings (Temporary Art Center Eindhoven, Netherlands, 2013), Atelier Aperti (Museo Claudio Faina, Orvieto, Italy, 2010), Circles (solo, Kunstraum Westend, Frankfurt am Main, 2010), The Sixth Element (Aspekte Galerie Gasteig, Muenchen, 2008), Dialogue (Oberhollenzer/Kirchlechner, Galerie Kleines Theater, Haar, 2006), achroma (Kunstverein Friedberg, 2005), achroma (Forum Sueddeutscher Verlag, Muenchen, 2004), Young Munich Art (Galerie Walter Storms, Muenchen, 2003), Icegreen and Geraniumsred (Schultes/Kirchlechner, Galerie des Bezirks Oberbayern, Muenchen, 2001), Winter (Kunstraum Balanstrasse, Muenchen, 1999), Domagkstudios (Muenchen, 1998), visavis (Pasinger Kulturfabrik and Bahnhof Pasing, 1996).
LINKS
Picture of the week: What is that? – DER SPIEGEL
TRG canale 13 – Drawing as Concept
Pinakothek Muenchen – Helmut Kirchlechner
Kunstverein Ebersberg e.V. – Annual exhibition 2022
Sueddeutsche.de – Cheers to the drawing
Publications – Gallery District of Oberbayern