In the East Nothing New

Michael Ornauer

We are pleased to present our solo exhibition featuring works by Michael Ornauer.

Michael Ornauer's new exhibition explores the manifold dimensions of war, violence, and their effects on the human psyche. It not only centers on the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia but also connects this to a deeper historical reflection on the trauma that wars have inflicted over generations. In the exhibition, Ornauer intertwines a personal historical narrative of his grandparents' experiences with the collective trauma caused by modern warfare in Eastern Europe.

The exhibition's title, In the East Nothing New, is a deliberate reference to Erich Maria Remarque's world-famous novel All Quiet on the Western Front, which powerfully depicts the horrors and futility of war. The title suggests that despite past wars and their lessons, nothing has fundamentally changed in terms of the nature of violence and suffering. Ornauer seeks to demonstrate that war continues to destroy lives and societies, and that the psychological tremors of war — on both a personal and collective level — reverberate through generations. By linking to Remarque, it becomes clear that this exhibition is not only an engagement with the current war but also a universal and timeless reflection on the devastating impacts of wars and violence on humanity.

Emotional devastation and profound psychological shock form the conceptual backbone of this exhibition. Ornauer draws upon his grandparents' experiences, who were directly involved in war or suffered its consequences, and places them in dialogue with current events. The war experiences of this generation have become a kind of legacy, manifesting not only in the family history but also in the individual artistic expressions of the artist. This transgenerational transmission of emotional and psychological wounds, which penetrates deeply into the consciousness and subconscious of descendants, is visualized in the works through the blending of figurative and abstract elements.

The concept of "collective memory," as theorized by scholars like Maurice Halbwachs, plays a key role here. Ornauer reflects on how individual wartime experiences of the grandparent generation become part of a larger societal memory, shaping the collective perception of war and violence. In this sense, Ornauer’s works represent not only individual experiences but also embody a universal experience of trauma and loss, which is culturally and historically passed down in various ways.

Another essential theme of the exhibition is the abstraction of war and violence. Michael Ornauer's works stand at the intersection of abstraction and figuration, with the latter being particularly emphasized to express the incomprehensibility and inexplicability of war experiences. Ornauer, who has been working exclusively in abstraction for many years, returns to figurative painting for this series, as he feels that abstraction alone cannot do justice to the theme.

The layering and removal of paint in his works reflect this process: as layers are stripped away, not only are fragments of the image destroyed, but new perspectives on the underlying trauma are revealed. The dense layers of paint in works such as The Monster and Battlefield represent a kind of "artistic kintsugi," where the sequences and destructions are not concealed but deliberately brought to the forefront to enable an aesthetic confrontation with war trauma.

Ornauer’s technique of fragmentation and restoration corresponds to a traumatic narrative, where ruptures and cracks appear in both individual and collective consciousness. The deliberate reduction of forms and the alternation between intense color fields and almost monochromatic areas emphasize figuration as a means of capturing the emotional depth triggered by war experiences. Through abstraction, war is portrayed as an unspeakable, chaotic force that challenges the very capacity for representation.

The exhibition In the East Nothing New is characterized by a multi-layered reflection on trauma and the abstraction of war. In his works, Michael Ornauer connects collective historical experiences with the current geopolitical context of the Ukraine-Russia war. Through the use of figurative painting and the conscious layering and removal of paint, the intangible and destructive aspects of war are visualized. The exhibition invites the audience to confront not only the physical destruction but also the invisible psychological wounds caused by war and violence.

Anne Avramut