Carefully torn away

The individual motifs in Gabriela Oberkofler’s series of drawings entitled Entreissungen (2014) appear organised, isolated, meticulously and lovingly arranged. The objects stand, lie and rest entirely on their own on the white background. The artist has compiled a kind of encyclopaedia whose inner context the viewer tries to decipher. The individual sheets show things, objects, aspects of nature, things reminiscent of animals, parts of animal bodies, anthropomorphic forms. Each sheet appears enigmatic, and the connection between the individual sheets is also enigmatic: one drawing shows an arrangement of three differently sized piles of small and tiny components at a distance from each other. Each of the piles forms its own shape in green, red and black—no particle gets lost, but remains close to its destination. Another sheet shows a conifer, or more precisely the skeleton of a conifer, thin and sparse, standing alone on the white background in deep black, next to it is a cluster of small green particles. Another drawing shows four oval shapes, mottled red, each unique in its own way. The works on paper are initially characterised by their formal appeal, the arrangement of the individual motifs, the structure of the compositions and the technique—the fine, delicate stroke of the drawing. The motifs in the series appear like signs and ciphers, as if they carry a deep meaning and stand for something. This impression is reinforced by the sequence. Do these motifs tell stories or do they form a narrative in the context of each sheet? In her drawings Entreissungen, Gabriela Oberkofler has taken things apart and proceeded by sorting, organising and, above all, dividing them up. The small accumulations on the works on paper turn out to be the individual components of a flower: carefully torn petals, divided pistil and stem, neatly separated from each other. The leaf with the motif of the barren conifer tree shows its former splendour resting next to it, needle on needle; the four oval formations are cut-off pig's ears. Deer and horse legs can also be seen, as well as pig carcasses hanging upside down by their feet. As the word ‘Entrissungen’ suggests, the meaning of the aesthetically appealing drawings changes the moment they are revealed: the beautiful has a morbid character, the harmless allows darkness to shine through … 

Melanie Ardjah

Detail Überwucherter Kirschbaumast, 2014, watercolour on paper, 114 × 220 cm

Überwucherter Kirschbaumast, 2014, watercolour on paper, 114 × 220 cm

Detail Baum (Blätter, Blüten, Stängel), 2015, watercolour on paper, 114 × 230 cm

Baum (Blätter, Blüten, Stängel), 2015, watercolour on paper, 114 × 230 cm

Ich kann diese Geschichte nicht mehr vergessen, 2013, radio play, 13:52 mins