She just calls them Drops. In the new series from Ekaterina Fischnaller, the raindrop shape takes center stage. But do the elements behave like drops? The physical existence of a drop is determined by its earthward movement. When something drops, it falls, onomatopoetically (drip or drop), and already the most famous Drip Paintings in the art history come to mind, those of Jackson Pollock. These works, made with seemingly spontaneous yet decisive and powerful gestures, aim to hit everything, to break the boundaries of the canvas, and are more sprays than drips.
Ekaterina Fischnaller's paintings are not the product of dripping paint. The drop is a featured motif, explored with supremely delicate brushstrokes. She works with the simple form of the drop, round on one end and coming to a point on the other: with the pictogram of a drop, so to speak. Her drops do not fall; on the contrary, weight is foreign to them. They rise, dance, suggest twirling movement. Compositionally, Fischnaller releases a drop formation from the edge of the painting, and gives it space - or rather surface - all around, thereby establishing the character of a cohesive unit, separated from others, like a family, a group, a herd. The individual drops overlap with each other without covering each other, being painted with absolute delicacy. The fragile transparency of their colors results in subtle chromatic mixtures where one drop lies on top of another. While Fischnaller repeats the central composition from painting to painting, she unfolds a plethora of differentiated chromaticity, differences in color application and backgrounds. The paintings have something precious about them. This is evident when the artist uses gold leaf. A reference to Russian icons? The decided flatness could also point in this direction. Each individual work has this special aura of uniqueness, being charged with concentration to each detail.
A drop is a delicate entity. Each is formed individually, vulnerable, ephemeral. In Ekaterina Fischnaller's paintings they appear in swarms. We do not know how long each formation can endure, but what remains is the celebration of community, which Ekaterina Fischnaller imparts with her paintings.
Stella Rollig is Scientific Director and CEO Belvedere Vienna