Hermann Nitsch
14 October – 14 November, 2021
Opera Gallery London
Opera Gallery London is pleased to present a solo exhibition featuring recent paintings as well as
historic works by Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch.
Considered a key figure in Viennese Actionism of the 1960s, Hermann Nitsch continues to use a radical method of painting, essentially through his creation of the Orgien Mysterien Theatre, a concept of ceremonial performance art comparable to Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk (total art work).
This total art form calls to all five human senses and advocates for a profound existentialist reflection. Hermann Nitsch creates his paintings using his entire body. Therefore, they are simultaneously the origin and the result of his performances. Using or applying oil or acrylic paint of a certain hue, he spreads it on canvas using unconventional tools as well as his hands, feet and whole body movements. Through these actions, Nitsch demonstrates his energetic, spiritual, sensual and passionate persona. Chaos and violence, which accompany his work, are in fact a celebration of life and mirror the human soul.
Considered a key figure in Viennese Actionism of the 1960s, Hermann Nitsch continues to use a radical method of painting, essentially through his creation of the Orgien Mysterien Theatre, a concept of ceremonial performance art comparable to Wagner’s Gesamtkunstwerk (total art work).
This total art form calls to all five human senses and advocates for a profound existentialist reflection. Hermann Nitsch creates his paintings using his entire body. Therefore, they are simultaneously the origin and the result of his performances. Using or applying oil or acrylic paint of a certain hue, he spreads it on canvas using unconventional tools as well as his hands, feet and whole body movements. Through these actions, Nitsch demonstrates his energetic, spiritual, sensual and passionate persona. Chaos and violence, which accompany his work, are in fact a celebration of life and mirror the human soul.
Hermann Nitsch
BFGP_31/34_212021
Mixed media on canvas
300 x 400 cm | 118.1 x 157.5 in
Hermann Nitsch
HF_02_142014
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 150 cm | 78.7 x 59.1 in
“pouring, spilling, and splattering, squeezing sponges, slapping paint on, soiling, and rolling
ought not to be seen as an actionist approach to wielding materials but rather as a shamanic ritual
in which various actions symbolising birth and death, killing
and expiation, are performed in a process of self-discovery”
Hermann Nitsch
HF_05_202020
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 150 cm | 78.7 x 59.1 in
Hermann Nitsch
01b_142014
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 300 cm | 78.7 x 118.1 in
Hermann Nitsch’s creative expression is rich and proteiform, calling upon numerous media such as
painting and action as well as installations, opera, musical creation, drawing, and engraving, which
are all constitutive of the Theater, otherwise meant
as a total work of art in accordance with the Wagnerian concept of Gesamtkunstwerk. It is very
important to understand the following: when you are contemplating one of Nitsch’s paintings, it is
actually the Theater that you are gazing
at and touching upon.
Hermann Nitsch
HF_17_182018
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 150 cm | 78.7 x 59.1 in
"I never was interested to make provocation. I want to show intensity. And let’s say, maybe in
intensity is a kind of provocation, but for me [it] always is important to show life and to
celebrate life."
Hermann Nitsch
HF_24_182018
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 150 cm | 78.7 x 59.1 in
Hermann Nitsch
30_142014
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 300 cm | 78.7 x 118.1
Hermann Nitsch
13_13_i2013
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 300 cm | 78.7 x 118.1 in
Hermann Nitsch
Tamme_202020
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 300 cm | 78.7 x 118.1 in
Hermann Nitsch
SF_11_192019
Mixed media on canvas
150 x 100 cm | 59.1 x 39.4 in
"Art is celebration of being. Art is a special kind of life. What kind of life is making lukewarm
art? I will not make lukewarm art. I want to make anything art. I want to make art, which is so
important—like the stars, the sun systems. I want to make
art, which is so important, like being."
Hermann Nitsch followed the honorable invitation by the Bayreuth Festival and staged the Valkyrie
with a painting action under the musical direction of Pietari Inkinen. The performances with 10
assistants directed by Hermann Nitsch took place in July
and August 2021.
“because of the corona crisis, bayreuth performs the valkyrie concertante. the singers will stand at
the edge of the stage like at an oratorio. as an action artist, i have been invited to stage an
actionistic event during the musical course of all three
acts of the valkyrie. i would like to realize a painting action. the used poured and smeared colors
of the entire rainbow spectrum will concur with the colorfulness of wagner’s music in a positive
sense. the painting actions are preliminary
stages of my own orgies mysteries theater, which i have developed in prinzendorf. i am especially
looking forward to the continuous flow of luminous paint from top to bottom during these three acts.
the painting processes will be music.
sounds will become colors.”
Hermann Nitsch
HF_Alissa_212021
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 150 cm | 78.7 x 59.1 in
"I’m not so interested in the symbolism of color, but I do like the intensity of pure color."
Hermann Nitsch
HF_Amilla_212021
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 150 cm | 78.7 x 59.1 in
Hermann Nitsch
Jolian_212021
Mixed media on canvas
200 x 300 cm | 78.7 x 118.1 in
