Xenia Hausner

XENIA HAUSNER

XENIA HAUSNER November 14, 2019 – January 1 1, 2020

FORU M G ALLERY

On Fire, 2018 oil on Dibond 59 x 75½ inches

XENIA HAUSNER

By Jessa Crispin

“My characters are disobedient. I am disobedient.” —Xenia Hausner

THIS SHOW WAS ONCE going to be titled Disobedience. It

for creation or destruction. We can look to their faces to tell

was once going to be titled a lot of things. When you’re try-

us which they have in mind, but their faces are impassive. Their

ing to choose a title, a word that will explain your intention,

gazes are steady. Whatever their specific plans are, they are

your philosophy, your perspective, many words get tossed up;

keeping them from us.

“Disobedience” was floated, but ultimately abandoned with all the others.

It is the determination in their faces that tells us whatever act they are about to commit is not one of rebellion—but

But for me, it lingers. Even though the painting that originally

disobedience.

carried that name is now titled “On Fire,” when I look at this collection of paintings, the word, disobedience, is still in my

To disobey is to know the rules but to reject them. It is to act

head. What does it mean to disobey? What does it mean to

by a code higher than that constructed by the state, by the

refer to these figures, none of them wilding out or throwing

economy, by traditions of etiquette. And anyway, etiquette is

bombs or having a tantrum? Mostly they are looking. You are

always merely an impossible list of behaviors those in power

looking at them and they are looking at you. But as I looked,

would like you to exhibit to show your deference and make

and as I was looked at, the word seemed to fit. Disobedient.

them more comfortable with your intrusive and unwelcome presence. You eat with the correct fork, not because mixing

The women of the painting now titled “On Fire” are holding

forks up would ruin the pleasure of the food on your plate, but

tools. The hammer and the chisel are tools that can be used

to show to your hosts, who decided for all of us which fork

is the right fork, that you are willing to play by their arbitrary

are on a train, but their destination, their intent, remains

rules and not upset them in any way.

unknowable. They are in trouble; that we know from the title, but are they heading toward it or away from it? Are they

So yes. As I looked at the subjects in Hausner’s paintings, and

making their big escape or are they in transit to dangers that

as they looked back at me, the word that kept coming back to

only we, the audience, can sense? The glass looks like water,

my mind was “disobedience.”

becoming a visual representation of their danger and our dread. One woman is immersed within it, one is struggling to

Maybe it has something to do with the amount of space they

keep her head above it, the third with her arms up, waving or

are taking up on the canvas. They are quite pressed up against

signaling. They do not see us. And while we see them, there is

us, filling the air around us with their bodies. It is an indiscreet

no intervention we can make.

encounter.

In “Dancer in the Dark,” the women move along an urban The worlds they occupy are unknown to us, peeking out from

environment,

caught

between

two

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the borders of the painting. A whole world exists just outside

competing (yet complementary) ideologies, one for Mao and

the frame, giving the paintings a suggestive and appealing pull.

the other for Disney. One woman supports the other, her arm around her. Is the woman laughing or grimacing? Is she being

Hausner does not meet her subjects where they dwell, creating

held or is she being dragged? We are witnesses to these figures

biographical work that reveals the inner world of her models;

only for a moment, how their situations resolve (or refuse to)

she instead creates a mise en scène for them to inhabit and

all happens outside the frame.

characters for them to embody. These are portraits, but they are portraits of characters, and the result is somewhere

Maybe it is this character work and Hausner’s previous life in the

between the model and the character Hausner constructs for

theater that has me thinking of films when I look at her work. I

them. They are themselves, they are not themselves. They are

see “Emergency” and think of the Romanian Film 4 Months, 3

pretending, they are dead serious.

Weeks, and 2 Days,1 and the last shot, as the woman who has just been through a tough day to procure an illegal abortion

There is an ambiguity to the scenes, and the mood of the

for her friend in Communist Romania, having scrounged up

paintings keeps shifting. We can tell these “Women in Trouble”

the money and been forced to trade sex for medical care and

having destroyed evidence of the crime, looks directly into the

the brain and into the body, into the very core of being. To

camera in one final, exhausted, shot.

gaze, then, was to be transformed. To gaze upon the beloved is to become more like the beloved and take on their qualities.

I see “Agent Provocateur” and think of the films of Margarethe

To gaze upon a monstrosity is to become a little monstrous

von Trotta, the German New Wave director, and her movie

yourself. And to hold eye contact, to be held in a mutual,

about a woman who robs a bank in order to help fund the

reciprocal gaze, then one enters a contract or an agreement

nursery school that is on the brink of closing. 2 Or her movie

to transform each other and be bonded by a new acquired

about a woman who loves and helps a member of the Red

likeness. 4

Army Faction and stands up against the police and media who harass and demonize her for it. 3 I think of their gentle defiance

This is a much more powerful theory of looking, one with much

and their certainty that what they are doing is right, even if the

more potential for empathy, for change, and for connection.

consequences are great.

To see someone, to see their reality and their humanity, then becomes an act of compassion. Something is exchanged, not

Which means that I’m thinking about disobedience again, and

forcibly taken.

these acts of care and support that have been rendered illegal, unacceptable, criminal.

Hausner commented to me that working with live models is “very tiring.” “For a person sitting and being stared at, they are

Ever since the birth of the idea of the “male gaze,” feminist

exhausted from being looked at intensely.” In so many of her

art criticism has been dominated by this idea of the gaze as

works, the subjects are not merely being looked at, they are

oppressive. The act of looking at something turns a subject into

actively looking back, at Hausner, at us. In each instance, we

an object, making the gaze an act of violence. With nothing

are, all of us, changed.

but respect to Sartre and Mulvey, who worked out the first flashes of this idea, this idea never quite seemed right to me.

If we disobey this theory of the gaze as an act of objectification, we free ourselves from it. We can see sight as a humane act,

According to early Renaissance thought, the act of looking had

although that requires us to welcome the change rendered by

the most profound effect on the viewer, not the subject. That

sight. And freedom, ultimately, is what disobedience is for.

which is taken into the eye, it was thought, is also taken into

Jessa Crispin is the author of The Dead Ladies Project and Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto. She was the editor and founder of Bookslut.com, which ran from 2002–2016. She has written for many publications, some of which are still in existence. Born and raised in rural Kansas, she now divides her time between Berlin and Baltimore.

Notes: 1

4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Directed by Cristian Mungiu, performances by

Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, and Vlad Ivanov, BAC Films, 2007.

2

The Second Awakening of Christa Klages. Directed by Margarethe von Trotta,

performances by Tina Engel, Silvia Reize, and Katharina Thalbach, Filmverlag der Autoren, 1978.

3

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum. Directed by Margarethe von Trotta and

Volker SchlĂśndorff, performances by Angela Winkler, Mario Adorf, and Dieter Laser, Cinema International Corporation and New World Pictures, 1975.

4

Couliano, Ioan P. Eros and Magic in the Renaissance. University of Chicago

Press, 1988.

China Club II, 2018 oil on Dibond 53 x 89³⁄8 inches

Women in Trouble, 2018 oil on Dibond 63 x 40½ inches

Dancer in the Dark, 2015 oil on Dibond 49Âź x 60Âź inches

Agent Provocateur, 2019 oil on Dibond 65 x 54 inches

Borodino, 2019 oil on 310g Hahnemühle paper on panel 39³⁄8 x 61½ inches

Cosa Nostra, 2018 oil on Dibond 23½ x 39³⁄8 inches

Rubber Soul, 2019 oil on Dibond 377â „8 x 51 inches

Pompeii, 2019 oil on Dibond 45²⁄3 x 65¹⁄3 inches

Private Collection

Emergency, 2017 oil on Dibond 41 x 52ž inches

Indigo Yao, 2013 oil on Dibond 34½ x 52¾ inches

Sleepwalking, 2019 oil on Dibond 27½ x 48½ inches

XENIA HAUSNER 1951

Born in Vienna, Austria

1972–1976 Studied stage design at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, London 1977–1992 Painted over 100 theater and opera sets, for spaces including the Burgtheater in Vienna, Vienna State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Berlin State Theater, Covent Garden in London, Théatre de la Monnaie in Brussels 1981

Studio in Berlin, Germany

1992

Began to work exclusively as an independent painter

Lives and works in Berlin and in Vienna

SELECTED EX HI BI T I ON S 1996

The Power of Images, Martin-Gropius- Bau, Berlin, Germany

Human Pictures, Galerie Thomas, Munich, Germany

Masterpieces of Austrian Contemporary Art, Galerie Heike Curtze, Salzburg, Austria 1997

Xenia Hausner: Love Fragments, Kunsthalle Vienna/Museum der bildenden Kunste Leipzig, Germany

Contemporary Art in Austria, European

Monetary Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Xenia Hausner: Love Fragments, Jesuitenkirche, Galerie der Stadl Aschaffenburg, Germany

Xenia Hausner: Strange Reports of a Far Nearness, Kunstfest Weimar “Pèlerinages,” Germany

1999

Figuration, Rupertinum, Museum of Modern Art, Salzburg/Museion, Museum of Modern Art of the city of Bozen/Ursula Blickle Stiflung, Kraichtal

2005

Physiognomy of the 2nd Republic, Austrian Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, Austria

Round Leather Worlds, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany

Xenia Hausner: Glücksfall, Einzelschau, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany

2006

Back to the Figure–Contemporary Painting, Kunsthalle der Hypokulturstiftung, Munich, Germany

Xenia Hausner–Glücksfall, KunstHaus, Vienna, Austria

2000 Xenia Hausner: Heart Matters, Käthe-

Kollwitz Museum, Berlin, Germany

/State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Xenia Hausner: Paintings, Ernst Barlach Museum, Hamburg/Wedel, Germany

Xenia Hausner: Heart Matters, Forum Gallery, New York, NY

2001

Xenia Hausner: New Works, Rupertinum, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria

Works on Paper, Galerie 422, Gmunden, Austria

Xenia Hausner: New Works, Galerie Thomas, Munich, Germany

2002

Xenia Hausner: Paintings, Galerie Kämpf, Basel, Switzerland

Xenia Hausner: Paintings, Galerie Hohmann, Hamburg, Germany

2003

New Paintings, Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Xenia Hausner: Paintings, Forum Gallery, New York, NY

Xenia Hausner: Ladies Choice, Galerie Deschler, Berlin, Germany

1998

Reality and Dream, Berlin Galerie, Berlin, Germany

2004

Xenia Hausner: 2nd Nature, Charim Galerie, Vienna, Austria

Xenia Hausner: Paintings, Kunsthalle Koblenz, Germany

Xenia Hausner: The Things of Life, Kunstforum Hallein, Austria

Xenia Hausner: Upper Class und Working Girl, Galerie der Stadt Salzburg, Austria

Austria: 1900–2000 Confrontations and Continuities, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg, Austria

Works on Paper, Forum Gallery, New York, NY

2007

Two, Galerie von Braunbehrens, Munich, Germany

Back to the Figure, Kunsthaus, Vienna, Austria 2008

ON Europe first Montijo International Biennal, Portugal

Xenia Hausner: You & I, Forum Gallery, New York, NY

New Acquisitions, Forum Gallery, New York, NY

2009

Summer Selections, Forum Gallery, New York, NY

Xenia Hausner, Palais Liechtenstein, Forum for Contemporary Art, Feldkirch, Austria

Yearning for an Image: The Portrait

through the Ages, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria

2010

Intimacy: Bathing in Art, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Ahlen, Germany

Trailblazer, Gabriele Münter Prize 2010,

Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany

2015

From Hockney to Holbein. The Würth Collection in Berlin, Martin-Gropius- Bau, Berlin, Germany

Objects of Desire, Xenia Hausner &

Dorothee Golz, Galerie 422, Gmunden, Austria

Personal Structures: Crossing Borders, Palazzo Mora, Venice, Italy

Skin Deep—Hair Dressers, Barbers, Beauticians, Wien Museum, Vienna, Austria

Soft Power, Leo Gallery, Shanghai, China

Xenia Hausner: Shaky Times, Danubiana

Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava, Slovakia

Xenia Hausner, New Works, Kunsthaus Walker, Klagenfurt, Germany

2011

Xenia Hausner – Damage, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China

Girl, Girls, Girls, Galerie Deschler, Berlin, Germany

Sense of Family, Installation Ringturm, Vienna, Austria

Xenia Hausner, Some Hope, FO.KU.S, Innsbruck, Austria

Glasmalerei der Moderne, Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany

2012

Xenia Hausner – ÜberLeben, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria

2016

Frau im Bild–Female Portraits from the Würth Collection, Galleri Würth, Oslo, Norway

5th Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing (China)

Rendezvous, Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Essl, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria

Glass painting of the 21st century, Centre international du Vitrail, Chartres, France

Xenia Hausner–Flagrant délit, Musée Würth France, Erstein, France

2013

Sie. Selbst. Nackt, Paula Modersohn- Becker Museum, Bremen, Germany

Painting Water, Berlin Art Week, Galerie Deschler, Germany

A.E.I.O.U–Österreichische Aspekte in der Sammlung Würth, Museum Würth, Künzelsau, Germany

2014

Xenia Hausner, Look Left–Look Right, Today Art Museum, Beijing

Xenia Hausner, Look Left–Look Right, The Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong

Glanzlichter. Meisterwerke zeitgenössischer Glasmalerei im Naumburger Dom, Naumburg, Germany

Die Andere Sicht, Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria

2017 Monet to Picasso: The Batliner Collection, Permanent Collection, The

Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria

Xenia Hausner–Exiles in “Personal Structures: Crossing Borders,” Palazzo Bembo, Venice, Italy

Entfesselt. Malerinnen der Gegenwart, Schloss Achberg, Germany

10–Alive and Kicking, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney, Australia

Menagerie: An Animal Show from the Würth Collection, Forum Würth Rorschach, Switzerland

Forum Gallery Celebrates 55 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art, Forum Gallery, New York, NY

Seeing With Our Own Eyes, Forum Gallery, New York, NY

2018

Die Geste, Ludwiggalerie, Schloss Oberhausen, Germany

Guernica—Icon of Peace, Hofburg Innsbruck, Austria

2019 8th International Biennale of Contemporary Art, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia

Juntos Aparte, BienalSur, Cúcuta, Colombia

Xenia Hausner: Displaced: Stories in Motion,

Ducal Palace Museum Complex at the

National Archaeological Museum of Matua, Italy

Warhol bis Richter, Albertina Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria

The Still Life in Contemporary Art, Galleri Würth, Norway

Blickwechsel: Neue Frauenbilder, Galerie von Braunbehrens, Stuttgart, Germany

Frauen über Frauen, Galerie Deschler, Berlin, Germany

2019–20 Xenia Hausner, Forum Gallery, New York, NY 2020

Xenia Hausner: True Lies, The Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria

Rosenkavalier, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin, Germany

SELECTED LI T ER AT UR E

CO L L E C TI O N S

Xenia Hausner, Rälselraum Fremde Frau, Edition Braus, Heidelberg, 1990

The Bennett Collection (of Women Realists), San Antonio, TX

Xenia Hausner, Menschenbilder, Galerie Thomas, Munich 1996 (catalog)

21C Museum, Louisville, KY

Xenia Hausner, Liebesfragmente, edited by Britta Scmitz, Wienand Verlag, Cologne, 1997 Xenia Hausner, Menschen, Galerie der Stadt, Aschoffenburg, Aschaffenburg, 1998 (catalog)

The Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria Museum Würth, Künzelsau, Germany Batliner Collection, Austria

Xenia Hausner: Heart Matters (Kampfzone), Introduction by Donald Kuspit and text by Aleksander Borovsky, Weiland Schmied, and Peter Weirmair, edited by Weiland Schmied, translated into English from the original German by Kate Sturge; New York: Forum Gallery Editions, 2000, Print.

Wien Museum, Vienna, Austria

Xenia Hausner—Ladies First, Second Thoughts, Wienand Verlag, Cologne, 2003

Seven Bridges Foundation, Greenwich, CT

Xenia Hausner: Hide and Seek (Glücksfall), Foreward

by Beate Reifensheid and essays by Carl Aigner, Rainer Metzger, and Katharina Sykora, Munich: Prestel, 2005, Print.

Hong Kong Art Museum, Hong Kong

Xenia Hausner—Two, Galerie von Braunbehrens, Munich 2007 Xenia Hausner: You & I, essays by Carl Aigner, Bazon Brock, Rainer Metzger and Katharina Sykora, Munich: Prestel, 2008, Print.

Xenia Hausner—Damage, Hirmer Verlag, 2011 Xenia Hausner—Flagrant Delit, Swiridoff Verlag, 2012 Xenia Hausner—ÜberLeben, Brandstätter Verlag, 2012 Blumenthal, P.J. and Silvano Zheng. Xenia Hausner: Look Left - Look Right (Kan Zuo - Kan You). Wien: Brandstätter, 2014. Print.

Europäische Zentralbank, Frankfurt, Germany Angerlehner Museum, Thalheim bei Wels, Austria First Art Foundation

Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China

Today Art Museum, Beijing, China Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria The Würth Collection, Oslo, Norway Belvedere Museum, Vienna, Austria Droege International Group, Düsseldorf, Germany Serendipity Arts Trust, New Delhi, India

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