Andrea Gamp
Constance - Berlin, February 2021
OtGO: The Secret
Matrix of Coronavirus – or Confetti in Hell?
--
The original
text in German --
2020 marks a break. It
is the year of the catastrophe in which the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2,
overtakes people around the world. Life as it was before has been swept
away, the new one resembles a dystopia: The pandemic claims millions of
deaths and sick people, overworks health systems and fuels science in
laboratories. We see a new grimace of globalization. Politicians argue,
rush ahead, want to make a name for themselves - in the end they all
crashes the economy against the wall. The population must learn to live
with medical masks, contact blocks and massive restrictions, both
professionally and privately. Hygiene concepts are to be followed.
Lockdown and short-time work mean less money for people with maximum
flexibility, or even loss of work. Kindergartens and schools are
temporarily closed. There are no cultural events, museums, theaters and
cinemas are closed. Sport only takes place outdoors and sporadically.
The physical separation through the distance requirement, even in close
family and friends, and the fears about health and the future hit
people on the soul. Talents such as creativity and strong nerves are
required. And some people realize: slowing down and concentrating on
the essentials can also be an enormous benefit! Other, new networks
have to be created. Digital platforms are mostly used to replace
previous habits and forms of communication in human interaction. Panic
purchases from toilet paper and canned food, closed restaurants
and rank growth on their heads are some of the factors that cause
frustration in everyday life. Planes stay on the ground, the vacation
is canceled. Only nature and the environment enjoy a little relaxation
from 'humane tyranny'!
The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus by OtGO
2020, acryl
on
canvas 75 x 100 cm
With The Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
(2020), the artist OtGO
(* 1981) has created a picture that not only reflects the conditions of
the decisive year outlined above in an intensified work process. The
coronavirus is already explicitly addressed in the title and subject. The artist himself describes his motivation for the picture as follows:
"Corona
has been present every day for a year. There are tons of information
about Corona, the number of people who have died from Corona and the
problems ... Corona created many problems. That made me feel like I had
to paint the picture."
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
It
is indeed a ''secret germinal layer of the coronavirus' that people around
the world have to deal with in the literal, medical and figurative
sense - every single one of them! This is what the figures within this
picture do in their own specific way, the composition of which is constituted by a large, typically crowned octopus (the word corona also means “crown” in Italian and Spanish).
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
marine animal with its eight reaching tentacles, which swims stretched
out to the left of the picture, acts as a symbol for the rampant virus.
One of the characteristics of the highly intelligent species of
cephalopods is that they change color and shape and, through
camouflage, become almost invisible to their enemies. Corona, which is
invisible in real space, is directly recognizable in the image on the
virus particles with the characteristic protein structure, which glow
yellow towards the viewer.
„It is spreading“, as OTGO expresses. And he adds soothing:
„Freedom
and happiness are part of it. The curfew: suddenly the whole world is
silent. Ethnology. All of this is important for the picture. Slowing
down, living in silence is very painful and problematic for mankind,
but for nature it is the opposite. She recovers, and now winter is
coming, a real winter. Well, it is exactly that contrast I want to make
clearer in the picture."
The medium format
of 75 x 100 cm, acrylic on canvas, is unusual for OTGO's oeuvre. It is
the 'harbinger' of a larger triptych on the subject of Corona, Last Supper (2020-2021, acrylic on canvas, 215 x 300 cm, 215 x 400 cm, 215 x 300 cm) the artist is currently still working on. The Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
also maintains 'interactions' with some large formats in acrylic from
the same year, which can only be mentioned at this point: Kingdom of the Apes (triptych: 312
x 312 cm, 160 x 150 cm and 190
x 160 cm), most obviously from the identical central monkey figures; or Infinite –16 (2013-2020, 213 x 650 cm), which celebrates all-embracing being in the sense of Lamaist Buddhism.
The coloring in The Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
is peculiar because it predominantly shows all 'fire colors' or shades
of red, orange and yellow that associate with warmth, interspersed with
black. On the one hand, this extends to the background of the picture, which is designed with traces of color flow, on which the figuration
is created in layers. On the other hand, the coloring also affects the
individual human and animal figures. The yellow is also very present in
the picture, which, as mentioned above, marks the virus itself, but
also the structurally related eye of the octopus, money in the form of
coins and the fur of individual zebras.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
large proportion of black is given to the dominant monkeys, which
resemble chimpanzees and thus embody conspecifics of humans. In
addition, the light brown acts as a basic tone for the skin of the
octopus. Small proportions of the primary colors blue, red and yellow
'scatter' like confetti in fine blobs around the virus particles and
thus provide an idea of depicting the 'spreading' of the aerosols.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Blue
is mixed with white to denote respirators and skulls. Pure white is
reserved for the skulls or can be found in stark contrast to black in
the stripes of the zebras.
The application of paint
in this picture appears overall opaque, even if glazes are detectable,
visible for example on the red monkey without contour lines at the top
of the picture. All other individual figures generally consist of fine,
black ink contours, into each of which color is written over a large
area. What is striking about The Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
is the differentiated painting style, which abstracts the human figures
more strongly than the animal ones. In their reduction to naked,
hairless beings with female or male gender characteristics, who at most
still wear face masks, they look as if they were taken from a comic
strip.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
faces of the monkeys, on the other hand, have more internal structures,
their facial expressions are more clearly formulated. 'New' in the
lines are also the many small circles and hatching for the skin texture
of the octopus and the wavy lines for the suction cups.
OTGO's characteristic signature,
the thumbprint with lettering in vertical writing direction, can be
found in the lower right corner of the picture. In addition, the yellow
thumbprint is present several times in the image field as an 'identity
marker'.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
With regard to the figuration,
it should also be said that the entire image field is densely
'populated' by human and animal figures: a wealth of detail that is
characteristic of OTGO's works and is rooted in miniature painting. The
figures all remain in the area. Nevertheless, the “interwoven” layers of color in the picture create an impression of depth, of a color space in the image field. The search for a 'classic picture structure' of foreground, middle and background remains in vain.
The structuring falls to a figure, more precisely to the large octopus,
which as a 'connex figure' 'holds together' the zones of the image field.
From the background of the picture, the octopod seems to 'appear' in
the midst of the mammals (primates, equidae). In the process, his
tentacles 'swirl' up the picture ground in serpentine shapes and curls,
only to finally 'dive' into it again. Corresponding to the swimming
movement of the animal, the masses of the other figures “wash around”
it in the picture as if in a whirlpool.
However, from a distance it is still unclear how the actual picture
is to be interpreted. Rather, it appears in the overview as an
anarchic, absurd hustle and bustle full of 'scurrying movements'
between the different groups of figures (monkeys, people, riders). The
beholder's eye is continuously challenged to 'scan' the individual
sections of the image in order to gradually develop connections
contrary to conventional viewing experiences.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
To
take the octopus' tentacles as a starting point, it is
immediately noticeable that it is the black monkeys and their offspring
who do all kinds of practical jokes! Their
seemingly endless rows along the tentacles and their postures, such as
the 'laying on' of the arms or playful gestures using the skull,
suggest a spectacle like in theater boxes or at banquets. An event for
young and old! The top tentacle, which extends far forward, serves the
monkeys as a 'climbing tree'.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
And
also the virus, which apparently cannot harm this species, ‘follows’ it
above. The rolled tentacles transform into 'swings' for the
animals. Apparently the monkeys in the picture do all those things with
a 'fun factor' that their relatives, humans, are denied during the
pandemic due to the risk of infection.
OtGO YouTube VIDEO
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Speaking of the primate family - in The Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
it becomes clear that the boundary between humans and monkeys has been
abolished, which the painting realizes, among other things, through the
black, human figures at the top of the picture. The monkeys are almost
humanized and portrayed as the most diverse and active figures in the
picture. Indeed it is the monkeys who look mischievously and wicked out
of the picture as well as interact internally through visual
relationships with one another or with people. The latter,
however, react with terrified, wide open eyes, staring into space,
averted or even closed eyes. They seldom direct their gaze beyond the
aesthetic border towards the viewer. The picture does not show any
human saints, but rather large groups of monkeys wearing a nimbus (halo).
But they are also the ones who 'hoard' money, carry guns with them and
use violence! There is a part in the upper half of the picture in which
men and women are threatened with weapons by monkeys as if they wanted
to execute them. The monkeys in the picture harass
and clasp human bodies, kidnapping the defenseless.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Often
such victims are female figures, as can be seen several times between
the octopus' middle tentacles. However, these primates treat each other
differently: A few pairs of monkeys sitting close together can feel the
affection in the upper right corner of the picture.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
painted monkeys could even be subordinated to social hierarchies.
Immediately under the head of the octopus there are four crowned and
armed monkey figures with implied necklaces ('spreading' particles),
which appear in the habit of monarchs with crown jewels, but also plague human figures.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Does this actually call for the royal status of King Louie from Walt Disney's The Jungle Book (1967), or is it rather a reference to the negative situation caused by Corona? OTGO gives a comprehensive answer:
"There
is the destruction of nature through human interaction, the
responsibility of people towards nature and karma. The problem is the
human ego, the human being is the sole ruler over nature ... For me
humans and animals are not two but one. Now it is nature as a whole
(excluding humans) that combats human greed, overpopulation, and power
because humans are never satisfied. And money is man-made, wealth and
consumption are essential here. The monkeys symbolize the origin of
humans and themselves as animals fighting against humans on behalf of
all other animals."
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Furthermore, it is important for the attentive observer to discover figure overlays and accumulations.
Figures lie on top of figures and thus themselves become the basis for
further figuration. This is most evident in those two places in the
upper half of the picture where, characteristically, large amounts of
skulls and coins pile up over the living as if they wanted to suffocate
them. This suggests, for example, a mass grave and mountains of debt -
thoughts that do not seem misguided in view of the pandemic and its
fatal consequences. OTGO gets to the point in the artist talk:
"Money
in numbers also plays a major role in providing information, because
never before has so much money been offered as aid as state support.
You can't understand the numbers, millions, billions, trillions of help
and support that are being offered. Will the money be able to help
people and nature? Money as greed, power, wealth, as divine power,
consumption?"
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Different skull sizes and the grin of some specimens are therefore vehicles for a critical, ironic undertone.
The film buffs among the viewers will recognize the 'path of the dead' from Peter Jackson's trilogy The Lord of the Rings: that film scene from The Return of the King
in which an 'avalanche' of such skulls falls when the cave collapses
and threatens to bury the heroes. A third part of the 'condensation of
figures', which brings rhythm into the layers of paint, is the 'cloud'
of virus particles of different sizes that pushes over the coat, gills
and beak of the octopus. As a result, the elements virus, death and
money are fatefully linked in the picture as in life.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Defiguration is also inherent in The Secret Matrix of Coronavirus:
Even the image detail at the top of the image causes some human heads
to be cut off. The example of a male figure in the field of view riding
a zebra with a child is curious.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Riding
a wild zebra would be extraordinary in itself (since this species de
facto refuses to be tamed), but occurs several times in the logic of
the picture. The rider can be found directly below a bend in the
octopus's upper tentacle, which simply runs as a layer of paint over
the 'affected person': optically, however, the rider is not located in
the background. Seen from the surface, it looks rather as if his head
has been severed from his torso and he now wants to escape 'headless' from a hopeless situation!
At the bottom of the picture, only monkeys are affected by such 'mutilations' on their feet.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
'red monkeys' already mentioned above also represent a figurative
'decomposition process'. Due to their shadowy formulated bodies, the
contoured, gray faces and ears stand out all the more - almost as if
the bodies were transparent and 'swallowed' by the picture background
of the same color or be 'decomposed'! One might think of these
mischievous figures on the screen as 'distant relatives' of the
'Cheshire Cat', from the famous children's book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by the British Lewis Carroll (1865).
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirusrus
Finally, the entire group of riders
above the octopus head deserves a closer look, because the animal
figures make them extraordinary and at the same time exemplary for the
gestures of the human figures in the picture: the mounts in side view
form a herd of zebras and horses that gallop (see sequence of steps) to
the left, which seems to dash towards the border of the picture.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
zebras are white and yellow-striped figures, all of which are depicted
faceless. Visually, the overlapping of their extremities and the stripe
structures create a wild mess. The horses, on the other hand, also
merge in color with their naked riders to red-orange figures and all
have well-defined eyes, nostrils, manes and tails. The postures of the
riders are 'loose' and flexible around the body axis, they ride the
wild animals freely, without any pressure from saddle or bridle.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
color scheme and the way they are presented show them as riders with an
Asian character. Obviously, given the close connection between these
figures and their animals and the way they ride, one suspects Mongolian
horsemen on a rapid ride through the steppe. One would think that
OTGO's riders would also have to do with 'death and the devil' in the
context of the picture. In fact, they are in every respect the extreme
'contrast program' to one of the most famous equestrian figures from
western art history, the knight in Albrecht Dürer's copperplate
engraving, Knight Death and the Devil
(1513).
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Dürer's
individual knight, technically worked out down to the smallest detail,
exudes statics and calm. The horse remains trotting in the assembled
position, in the multi-part bridle and tamed under the saddle. His
rider is shown riding from the side to the left, but focuses his gaze
forward and remains in the heaviness of the center of the body on the
horse's back.
OTGO's riders sit remarkably differently on their mounts, mostly in
pairs or three, often identifiable as father, mother and child by the
figure sizes.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The motif of mothers with small children in their arms, which recurs several times in the picture, is also present here.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Some
of the figures wear face mask, others turn their bodies backwards to
avoid the virus particles flying around. A rider holds a skull in his
arms.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
riding figures illustrate fear and horror, sometimes with wide-open,
twisted or closed eyes as well as defensive hand positions. Other human
figures in the picture do the same.
For those other human figures
in the picture field apart from the group of riders, the frontal, side
view and back figures assume all possible sitting, lying and standing
positions. Repetitions occur: groups of three, four and five between
the tentacles of the octopus, whose individual figures copy poses as if
they were 'aligned'.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
groups of figures in the upper right corner of the picture even seem to
'dance' individually with arms outstretched or folded behind the head.
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
Comparable
to these 'dancers', in addition to the lowest, rolled-up tentacle of
the octopus, there is also a single, female figure in a fighting pose.
She is surrounded by coins and virus particles. The outstretched fist
and the mouth shaped into an exclamation almost make her a 'sister' of
the Ukrainian Femen demonstrators who is coined to the Corona
situation.
In
a group of three female figures with closed eyes and various gestures
of despair, located between the octopus's central tentacles, the three
graces are parodied:
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
The
first holds her head, presses her child to her, and cannot help the
grip of a cocky monkey. The second clasps a skull against her stomach,
half bent, and the third throws her arms in the air as if plaintively.
Their hands do not find each other to touch or hug, the triad breaks
down into isolation and loneliness. Each figure stands for itself.
In the end, there may be other
contexts from Western art history that come to mind as comparative
images. For example, modern depictions of hell by Hieronymus Bosch
(around 1500/1510) or Sandro Botticelli's version of Dante Alighieri's Inferno from the Divina Commedia (1480/1490) - not least about the coloring and the tortures of naked bodies. The type of representation in The Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
is also reminiscent of scenic imagery, such as the 'hidden objects' by
Pieter Brueghel (around 1560). However, where Brueghel's figures can
appear as staffage in rural landscapes and leave 'spaces in between'
for a sequence of narratives in the picture, OTGO's figures depict a
simultaneous coexistence in a 'vortex of movement' in the tightest,
indefinable space. Despite the possible references mentioned above, it
becomes clear once again, at the latest after this close comparison,
that the painter OTGO is creating an original iconography. This offers
the viewer a lot of room for interpretation - or just: confetti in hell!
Detailed view: The
Secret Matrix of Coronavirus
So
what can postmodern painting show in the pandemic of Corona? Certainly
one thing: Those who at present can still look at the world with an
ironic wink despite all the adversities will make (surviving) life
easier!
----------------
Sources:
Artist talks on January 5th, 2021, January 12th, 2021 and February 1st, 2021
arte, Mysterious Beings: The Fascinating World of Cephalopods / Youtube (https://youtu.be/ma3JBzsTKOM,
January 31th, 2021).
Homepage of the artist, (http://www.otgo.info/Werke/infinite.html,
January 27th, 2021).
Otgo in lockdown (Artist in the Lockdown time: Part 1)/ Youtube, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBxz3ubHH14, January 22th, 2021).
The Secret Matrix of Coronavirus by OtGO 2020/
Youtube
(https://youtu.be/HEBj1USNL4o, December 24th, 2020).
