Martin Kasper. Architecture and Transgression

The spaces in Martin Kasper’s paintings captivate the viewer with their sensitively painted interiors, detailed depiction as well as with the specificity of their interior design. Spatial perspectives, high ceilings, glass fronts and disturbing geometric relationships become comprehensable as a paradigma of homelessness of places, which manifests itself in the abandonment of Kasper’s „non-places“.
References relating to architectural styles of the nearer past serve as a leitmotiv throughout the space fantasies of this internationally acclaimed artist. One thing is clear from the beginning: Kasper’s architectures are not simple copies of reality but elaborated compositions of perspective alignments, angles, curves, proportions and light effects. But they simultaneously bear the possibility of deconstruction within themselves.
In his latest compositions Kasper experiments with the destabilisation of these spatial structures, what implicates an enormous gain of complexity. The consequent use of central perspective is a conscious decision for the illusionary space in order to involve the viewer into the picture. Martin Kasper’s paintings prove that not only humans but also spaces possess their own physiognomy.

Martin Kasper, born 1962 in Germany, studies at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Karlsruhe (GER), 1990/91 scholarship Academy Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart (GER), scholarship in Montreal, CA, from IAAB, Bale, scholarship Cité des Arts, Paris (F), since 2011 guest lecturer at HEAR, Strasbourg (F)