(born in Salzburg in 1973)
“Anna” and “Otto”, 2003, two portraits (diptych), oil on canvas, each 64 x 50 cm, in original artist’s frame

The portrait of the gentleman with inscription: E. B. E. ... Göbel Nat. XV April 1789. Both paintings with inscription on the reverse: “Großmutter von Baron Emil Gödel-Lannoy” and “Großvater v. Baron Emil Gödel-Lannoy”

Provenance:
Private Collection, Vienna

Wolfgang Ullrich
Body fashions

Markus Schinwald does something to old paintings that was previously only to be found in the domain of architecture: he ‘rebuilds’ them. While buildings are constantly being extended, partly demolished or at least see their room layouts be changed throughout their history, paintings - even unknown ones - instil great reverence; people hardly ever undertake anything other than restorative measures. Unlike buildings, their original form is to be preserved or restored. Schinwald, however, buys or bids for paintings (mostly from the 19th century) so that he can paint over them, at least in part, and include additional subjects in them. Paintings that ‘do not really fit into the climate of our era’ are changed, as he says, ‘in such a way that they can survive under current conditions’.

The paintings Schinwald works with always depict people. But in his work a conventional bourgeois portrait becomes the image of a person whose body appears to be controlled or even deformed by special devices. Belts and ribbons constrict the face, a mask or bandages cover certain parts of it, the figures appear to be constricted or limited to just a few actions. Sometimes you might feel pity for the person being treated like this, but sometimes it just looks absurd or funny.
From: Markus Schinwald, Kunstverein Hannover/LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz, Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nuremberg 2011