Working accross a wide range of media, Lothar Hempel stages elaborate theatrical possibilities

Working accross a wide range of media, Lothar Hempel stages elaborate theatrical possibilities. His constructed situations confront viewers with open-ended ethical and ideological dilemmas that challenge and reflect their concept of self. Stemming from this interest in value and identification systems, Hempel抯 paintings exist as potential casts for his interactive scenarios. Reminiscent of Bertolt Brecht抯 慹pic theatre? Hempel抯 formalist compositions and puppet-like figures do not provoke emotional engagement, but rather the viewer抯 detached critical reaction to presented narratives.

In this series of paintings, Hempel designs a parade of figures; identical in stance, their similar format makes them interchangeable as props. Hempel抯 dream-like, surreal forms don抰 pretend a reality, but constantly reinforce their staged-ness. Each character is defined by their decorative properties, the aesthetics of painting itself becoming an extension of persona, ideology and storytelling. Through simplified and stylistic rendering, Hempel creates a sense of contrived charade: his figures are suggestive of impostors, knowing hypocrites or deceptive pawns of the unseen.

Conceiving fractured identity as a bi-product of modernity, Hempel paints his portraits with a fleeting sense of transience. Painted on paper, they are literally and metaphorically two dimensional figures of fancy. Inspired by ancient Greek theatre, Hempel抯 players?mannered stance and armless torsos restrain overt gestures of action to maximise audience imagination and response. The characters?attributes and emotions are conveyed solely by their costumes and sculptural masks. Their recital unfolds from symbolic and psychological interpretation rather than physical illustration.

The neutrality of Hempel抯 paintings suggests the timelessness of moral epics. Redolent of medieval tapestries or Byzantine frescoes, Hempel gives his paintings a clean-cut contemporary design, collapsing past, present, and future into the context of myth. Posing the classic foils of comedy and tragedy as ritualistic cycles, Hempel alludes to the folly of the human condition.

Lothar Hempel's Propaganda at the ICA

Propaganda, the title of Lothar Hempel's new installation at the Institute for Contemporary Arts, is a big name for a small show. But it's not just the title that makes big claims. Lothar Hempel, a 36-year old German living in Cologne, has a long list of group and solo exhibitions to his credit, a rave review from Frieze magazine, and a contract with the alarmingly fashionable Anton Kern Gallery in NYC. So one goes to this show with every expectation that Hempel is going to be quite good. And the ICA seems pleased enough with its new commission. The ICA's director Philip Dodd has helpfully set out its merits:

In a bewildered London art world and in a newly repoliticised Britain, it's a great pleasure to welcome Lothar Hempel's very resonant work. It addresses the cancellation of utopian imaginings in a world where all is propaganda, or at least often is - and it does so by engaging with the history of art. It's a rare achievement. To which I can only add, not nearly rare enough.

Read Entire Article about Artist Lothar Hempel paintings and artwork at The Saatchi-Gallery http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/lothar_hempel.htm