This unusual painting technique is a result of his meticulous method and his attention to detail. The delicate color distortion and pixel corruption resembles a flickering screen, triggering an interference between classic portrait painting and portrait photography.
Georg Pummer’s works interpret digital, photographic motives on a painted canvas and symbolize a symbiosis of tradition and technique. At the same time, they reflect both technical advancement and transience. In his artistic cosmos, contradictions are a fundamental part of his oeuvre. Whether distinctive beauty and youth or imperfection and decay – all of these states are subject to change and are thus a Vanitas symbol.
For the artist, even infinity is part of a temporally restricted cycle. In order to illustrate this state, he uses several layers of color to highlight different facets of his portrait. These paintings appear to be a snapshot of an existence, just before its color-based manifestation of a human image starts to dissolve into individual color particles – because nothing is forever…
This is how his current cycle of works came to its title, “Nothing is Forever”. It focuses on portraits that reflect both beauty and impermanence at the same time. In this catalogue’s series “Deep Reflections”, the portraits evoke a profound dialogue between portrait and viewer by conveying specific emotions… or are they the viewer’s own emotions that are reflected by the portrait?
More info: georgpummer.com
Maybe Death is a Gift I
Maybe Death is a Gift II
Elica
Portrait series: Jane / deep reflections
The triptych piece embodies the diversity of human perception. At first glance, the three girls are nearly identical, yet could not be more different. The differing reflections in their eyes point to the conclusion that they have seen and experienced different things. Those colorful life experiences inform the varying color spectrums of all three portraits. With their widely opened eyes and their captivating gaze the girls seem to communicate openly with the viewer, but at the same time they seem mysterious and incomprehensible. Similar to a metaphor of past, present and future, each image evokes different emotions in the viewer.
Pummer achieves this effect by giving all the girls a neutral facial expression, which leaves room for subjective interpretation. Joy, grief, indifference, optimism or hidden anger, any emotions could be concealed behind these unbiased faces.
The viewer doesn’t simply look at the portrait of an unfamiliar woman, but rather at a reflection of their own feelings and is thus invited to practice self-reflection.
Pummer achieves this effect by giving all the girls a neutral facial expression, which leaves room for subjective interpretation. Joy, grief, indifference, optimism or hidden anger, any emotions could be concealed behind these unbiased faces.
The viewer doesn’t simply look at the portrait of an unfamiliar woman, but rather at a reflection of their own feelings and is thus invited to practice self-reflection.
Portrait series: Jane / deep reflections detail I
Portrait series: Jane / deep reflections detail II
Portrait series: Jane / deep reflections detail III
Portrait series: Jane / deep reflections detail IV
Portrait series: Jane / deep reflections detail V
In the artist´s studio
Georg Pummer was born in Austria in 1983 and grew up with his younger sister in a small town near Vienna. He discovered his love for the arts and his natural talent for painting at a young age. Since he earned his certification as a car panel painter and custom painter in 2007, he is dedicating himself fully to his passion.
As an artist, he often explores the relationship between mankind, nature and technology. His early works are characterized by abstract landscapes and apocalyptic conditions. In this futuristic parallel world, humans have almost completely destroyed flora and fauna, driven by indifference and greed. And now mankind is on the edge of existence. A state of irony, where surrealistic approaches and profound symbolism form a melancholic vision of the future.
The combination of organic and technical components are an important characteristic of his art in his early works and in the current portrait series. By developing his distinct “Glitch Style”, he manages to subtly include technological elements into portraits that barely stand out at first glance. Still an essential part of his life, his affinity for technology that he gained in his previous profession is artfully expressed in his portraits.
Since 2015 his art pieces have been displayed in notable art exhibitions in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Busan, Venice, Florence, Rome, London, Vienna, Paris, Antibes, Cannes, and Amsterdam, among others.
As an artist, he often explores the relationship between mankind, nature and technology. His early works are characterized by abstract landscapes and apocalyptic conditions. In this futuristic parallel world, humans have almost completely destroyed flora and fauna, driven by indifference and greed. And now mankind is on the edge of existence. A state of irony, where surrealistic approaches and profound symbolism form a melancholic vision of the future.
The combination of organic and technical components are an important characteristic of his art in his early works and in the current portrait series. By developing his distinct “Glitch Style”, he manages to subtly include technological elements into portraits that barely stand out at first glance. Still an essential part of his life, his affinity for technology that he gained in his previous profession is artfully expressed in his portraits.
Since 2015 his art pieces have been displayed in notable art exhibitions in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Busan, Venice, Florence, Rome, London, Vienna, Paris, Antibes, Cannes, and Amsterdam, among others.
Text by Ánh Nguyen, Munich, 2020. Translation by Eva Saunders.