Exhibition by contemporary Austrian artist Ksenia Hausner:
women starring

September 27 at the Gallery of Art of the Countries of Europe and America of the XIX-XX centuries of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Alexander Pushkin will open the exhibition “Ksenia Hausner. True lie. " In total, the exhibition features 30 paintings by Ksenia Hausner, as well as a number of photographs that were created by the artist in preparation for painting.

Ksenia Hausner was born in 1951 into an artistic family, studied stage design in Vienna and London, and since 1977 has created sets for plays and operas, collaborating with the most prestigious theater institutions in the world - from the Royal Theater Covent Garden to the Salzburg Festival.

In 1992, the artist decided to devote herself exclusively to painting - this was dictated by her desire to get more freedom, to become “the director of her own pictorial plays”. The theatrical and, in general, the narrative principle in Hausner’s work allows us to speak of her as the heir to the centuries-old tradition of Western European painting. At the same time, her art is turned to the present day: we see modern types in front of us and read the current socially significant agenda. Her dramatic, colorful and emotionally charged works do not leave anyone indifferent and clearly demonstrate that the possibilities of figurative painting today are far from exhausted.

In most of the paintings, the action unfolds in a kind of theatrical setting, with a well-thought-out mise-en-scène, exposed light and background-decoration, and the models play their assigned roles in the artist’s mysterious, not amenable to unambiguous interpretation. The very name of the exhibition also reflects the idea of the closeness of theatrical principles to the artist’s work: staged, entirely composed, fictitious can contain a truthful inner content that evokes an instant response from the viewer.

In the works of Ksenia Hausner, everything is subordinated to the intensification of the spectator’s experience - the goals of more than one generation of painters of the 20th century: one can note the richness of her color palette, her work with a wide brushstroke and interest in decorative solutions and ornamental motives. The large format, which Hausner prefers to use, serves the solution of the same problem: the figures in her paintings are monumental and full of strength - in this respect, the artist inherits the tradition of creating large-scale altar compositions, historical paintings and ceremonial portraits.

One of the key themes that Ksenia Hausner addresses in her work is the role of women in life and in art. The action of her paintings takes place in a kind of alternative reality, where women dominate: it is they who become the main characters in the artist’s productions. Even if male characters appear in her paintings, they never demonstrate strength, being an organic part of her “female world”.

“My universe is female. Women are a key element in my work, in my works they act as representatives of all genders. I am working on human themes with a female cast. ”- Ksenia Hausner.

Each Hausner painting is designed to generate new and new meanings in collision with the individual viewing experience. The expansion of the viewer’s associative range is, in particular, the use of the names of popular (although not necessarily) films and books by the artist for naming works, which can provide a knowledgeable person with additional food for the mind. However, one should not look for a direct connection between the plot or characters of these works and what is happening in the artist’s works: when choosing names, she is guided by the method of free associations and calls on to see them primarily as poetic metaphors. Hausner also often resorts to citing both specific works of other artists and, in general, a particular style of painting. In any case, reading a specific reference does not at all lead the viewer to an instant solution,but only helps to find one of the many possible vectors of interpretation.

“I am not giving instructions for use or instructions on how to read this. Against. Unambiguous interpretations are boring. Life is always a question mark. Art should be mysterious, uncompromising and irrational, ”- Ksenia Hausner.

The desire to find a connection with the viewer, to be open to him is the most important aspect of Ksenia Hausner’s work. At the same time, the ambivalence of most of the scenes that the artist builds forces the viewer to actively respond to what he has seen, to compare it with his own life experience, fears and desires.

Hausner’s painting has a profound impact not only on the visual, but also on the emotional level: the viewer is captured by the drama of intense and at the same time very intimate, deep contact between human beings. A special gift of the artist can be called the ability to convey delicately orchestrated emotions, which color the relationship of the heroes of her canvases. Intimate closeness, affection, love and care - this is what first of all worries Ksenia Hausner, and this determines the piercing relevance of her work in today’s world, where the pandemic does not subside, global and local conflicts continue, new and new flows of refugees arise.

The artist’s retrospective is being held in collaboration with the Albertina Museum in Vienna and with the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Public Administration and Sports.

Curatorial group: Danila Bulatov, Elzy Laner (Vienna)