Mordstein, Karl (1937-2006), Indistinct Clear, 1982

Karl Ludwig Mordstein(1937 Füssen - 2006 Wilszhofen), Indistinct Clear , 1982. Color etching, e.a. (Epreuve d'artiste) 4/9, 22.5 x 28 cm (image), 40 x 45 cm (sheet), 43 x 48 cm (frame), titled, numbered, monogrammed and dated with pencil. Framed behind glass.

- in very good condition

- Fluctuating ambivalence -

The print is titled "Indistinct Clearly," and indeed we think we see something clearly that remains indistinct. We see an image divided by color into two zones, evoking a landscape space with a horizon line. Within this landscape, there is a kind of whirl of fragile brown elements that are clearly in front of our eyes, but cannot be visually resolved. What is happening remains a mystery, especially since a fragile structure, typical of Mordstein's graphic work at the time, appears in the left area below the flurry. It is also clearly recognizable, but the clarity only leads to increased ambiguity. It is precisely this ambivalence of clarity that Mordstein presents as a visual experience.

About the artist

After graduating from the Werkkunstschule in Augsburg, Karl Mordstein worked as a commercial artist in Munich before becoming a freelance artist and concentrating entirely on his own creations. In 1970 Mordstein married the sculptor Sinen Thalheimer and the artist couple moved to Starnberg. In 1972, Mordstein had his first solo exhibition in Munich, which marked the beginning of an active international exhibition career that lasted for decades. From 1987 the couple lived on the Hollerberg in Wilzhofen.

“It is certainly not wrong to recognize in the impression of his calmly floating color drawings the expression of a state of mind that owes itself precisely to this conscious turning away from the hectic art market: concentrated serenity. It is not a changing state of mind, but an empathy with the supra-individual rhythms of creation, the perpetual genesis in the natural cycle of becoming and passing, which is expressed in them.”

- Stefan Tolksdorf

Selected Bibliography

Karl Mordstein. Aquarelle, Gouachen 1972 – 1975, Galerie Angst und Orny, München 1975.

Juliane Roh: Karl Mordstein. Bilder, Paintings 1976 – 79, Frankfurt a. M. 1979.

Siegfried Salzmann (Text): Karl Mordstein. Arbeiten auf Papier, Galerie Dorothea van der Koelen, Mainz 1982.

Galerie Heimeshoff (Hrsg.): Karl Mordstein. "Seelen-Notate"; Bilder, Arbeiten auf Papier, Bildkästen; 1985 – 1988, Essen 1988.

Stefan Tolksdorf (Text): Lebenszeichen. Mordstein, Karl und Sinen Thalheimer, Essen 2009.