Gallery in Pasching

Oliver Dorfer: The new aura of reverse glass paintings

Oliver Dorfer: The Linz-based artist is also well-positioned on the international art market(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

Painting does not have it easy. The computer offers endless possibilities for inventing pictures. However, the "aura of the original" is mainly created by hand drawing. This is where artist Oliver Dorfer returns to: at the Galerie in der Schmiede in Pasching, he presents his current "stringproject" - modern works with great charisma!

Anyone standing in the foyer of the Linz Music Theater almost inevitably has to take a look at the huge blue and white picture hanging on the wall. It is by the artist Oliver Dorfer (61).

For more than ten years, this abstract picture has been an integral part of the music theater - and it has lost none of its modernity over the years. This is due to the pictorial technique that Dorfer developed and still uses successfully today.

AI does not suit everyone
His works are modern reverse glass paintings. He interweaves elements from comic culture, art history, media images, mental images and expressive hand drawings to create coherent, reduced compositions, which he captures with great perfection behind acrylic glass.

While Dorfer created the image compositions and motifs for his earlier series "pulpproject" and "dotproject" using a computer, in his current show "the stringproject" he tends to turn away from the world of the digital. He says: "I am currently returning to hand sketches." This is also a statement: "I can't do anything with AI in art."

Like traveling back in time
The motifs of the new work phase appear more graphic, more authentic. As the title says, he takes the basic element of line, spins figures and faces out of it and interweaves them with associatively arranged objects from everyday life or expressive landscapes.

"I build my stories with threads/strings," says Dorfer. In the interplay of point, line and surface, Dorfer develops a narrative interlocking of several levels, which brings a special dynamic and aura to these pictorial worlds.

"You always discover something new," says Christine Stieger, gallery owner in Pasching, enthusiastically. Oliver Dorfer presents large and medium-sized formats at the gallery in the Schmiede (until April 25), giving visitors an exciting insight into the latest works by a local artist who has also made a name for himself internationally.