Gehirnschaukel. Transitions in Uwe Lausen's Work

"My words, my half sentences and half truths, my slogans, my headings: can you read them, can you understand them, do they tell you anything?" asked Uwe Lausen in one of his numerous texts ("Überschriften" [Headings], typescript, private collection). This has taken quite some time though Lausen belonged to the Munich group SPUR and was supported by galleries such as Friedrich & Dahlem. After his work had been more or less forgotten after his death, it was only in the eighties that painters such as Albert Oehlen became interested in it. Today, Lausen's work seems to tap the pulse of the age for many people. His later paintings may be seen as reference points for Kai Althoff, for example. And Daniel Richter actually incorporated Lausen's paintings into one of his recent exhibitions. The presentation at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is the first solo show since 1984.

Uwe Lausen was born in Stuttgart in 1941. He began to study law and philosophy but left the university after only a few months. This decision may have been caused by his beginning friendship with the artists of the group SPUR in Munich which was part of the Situationist International. Having a good knowledge of French, Lausen stayed in close touch with Guy Debord. His first paintings reveal the influence of the COBRA group, of Karel Appel and Asger Jorn. Despite their gestural character, the pastose works are clearly figurative.

The exhibition at the Academy focuses on Lausen's experimental phase and years of quest from 1963 to 1965. The presented 36 paintings illustrate how the artist's expressionist gesture was curbed by a broken ornamentation modeled on Hundertwasser's works. Uwe Lausen remained fascinated by the human body, its pleasures and pains and turned to Francis Bacon for inspiration. Yet, relying on tricks which would be categorized as dirty along the rules of traditional painting, he avoided balanced compositions. Abstract biomorphic forms clash with realistically painted details. As in illustrations of old street ballads, the canvases are divided into rectangular windows. Unexpected abstract ornaments remind us of cancellation postmarks. Lausen also glued pictures from newspapers onto his paintings. With these techniques that unfold a field of tension between achievement and failure, Lausen developed a repertoire people can still profit from today.

From 1965 on, the artist rejected any free gestural approach. His pictures, which deal with war, terror, and violence, reveal a pop-art spirit and a graphic Hard Edge tenor. Towards the end of 1969, Lausen ceased to paint and started dedicating himself to nothing but musical experiments. He committed suicide on 14 September 1970

Text: Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen

Uwe Lausen

Born in Stuttgart in 1941, Uwe Lausen began teaching himself to paint watercolours and do woodcuts while still at school, showing a gift for composition at an early age. After passing the examinations qualifying him for university entrance, Lausen enrolled at Tübingen University in law and philosophy but soon dropped out to devote himself to art. At nineteen Uwe Lausen moved to Munich, where he painted and did prints, influenced by the 'SPUR' group. Then Abstract Expressionism and art brut became the prevailing influences on Lausen's work. During the 1960s he followed the ideas informing Nouveau Réalisme, doing collages incorporating wallpaper, photos and pictures gleaned from the print media. At the same time Uwe Lausen produced Surrealist landscapes with fragmented bodies and monochrome Colour Field paintings in large formats. Between 1966 and 1969 a style close to realism associated with both Pop art and Hyperrealism and incorporating psychologically destructive imagery predominated in Lausen's work. These paintings represent a highly sensitive reflection of social reality in the 1960s. Lausen's late motifs stemmed from the subculture with political overtones, the drug scene and criminal environments and he dealt with the world as he found it analytically, directly and often brutally. At an early age Uwe Lausen was successful in the Federal Republic of Germany, with exhibitions in Stuttgart, Munich, Berlin and Paris. In 1969 Uwe Lausen left Munich for Switzerland. He committed suicide in Beilstein near Stuttgart in 1970.

Selected exhibitions and projects
1962 Galerie Rudolf Springer, Berlin | 1963 Galerie Märcklin, Stuttgart; Galerie Ernst Kirchhoff/Galerie Casa, München (Catalog) | 1964 Galerie Friedrich & Dahlem, München; Participation "Salon Comparaisons", Musée d'Art Moderne de La Ville de Paris, Kunstverein München; Herbstsalon, Haus der Kunst, München | 1965 Galerie Margarete Lauter, Mannheim; Participation "Neue Malerei", Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München; Participation "Große Münchner Kunstausstellung", Haus der Kunst, München | 1966 Galerie Friedrich & Dahlem, München (Catalog, Reprint 2006 in: "Uwe Lausen, Daniel Richter", Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König , Köln); Participation "Junge Generation", Berlin/Essen; Participation "Große Münchner Kunstausstellung", Haus der Kunst, München; Galerie Strecker, Berlin | 1967 Participation "Neuer Realismus", Berlin, Braunschweig; Participation "Figurationen", Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart | 1968 Galerie Gmurzynska, Köln (Catalog); Galerie Stangl, München (Catalog) | 1969 Participation "Kunst und Kritik", Wiesbaden/Wuppertal; Stage design of Edward Bond's play "Early Morning", production Peter Stein, Zürich | 1971 Galerie Ruth Berner, Stuttgart | 1972 Galerie Franzius, München | 1973 Galerie Gunzenhauser, München (Catalog) | 1984 Kunstraum München (Katalog); "Rosamund"; "Uwe Lausen. Bilder, Zeichnungen, Texte 1960-1970", Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München (Catalog) | 1986 Galerie Lore Saußele, Bietigheim-Bissingen (Catalog) | 1987 Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Köln | 1992 Galerie Gunzenhauser, München (Catalog) | 1994 Galerie Klewan, München | 1996 Kunstverein Augsburg | 2000 Galerie Markt Bruckmühl, Oberbayern | 2005 Galerie Schlichtenmaier , Stuttgart, Schloss Dätzingen ( Leporello im pdf-Format) | 2006 Contemporary Fine Arts , Berlin (Catalog: "Uwe Lausen, Daniel Richter", Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König , Köln); Galerie Marie-José van de Loo , München.

Exhibition talk
Selima Niggl, Kunsthistorikerin, im Gespräch mit Franz Dahlem
9 March 2007, 2 pm

Lenders
Lea & Jana Lausen
Jutta Lausen, Schwester und Musikerin
Das Maximum, Traunreut
Galerie Michael Haas , courtesy: Contemporary Fine Arts
Collection Klewan
Collection Axel Hinrich Murken
Collection Niggl
Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg
Galerie Marie-José van de Loo, München
Private Collections