Bertram Hasenauer. Nature of time
Augustenstraße 63
May 8 – June 6, 2026

Opening – Bertram Hasenauer is present
Friday, May 08, 2026, 6 pm – 9 pm

“Nature of Time” does not describe a state, but rather an open field of resonance. As is often the case in the work of Bertram Hasenauer, it remains deliberately “precisely imprecise”, inviting continuous reflection. The individual works likewise resist clear categorization. For years, he has consciously refrained from giving titles, allowing the painting themselves to unfold their internal tensions. The exhibition takes its starting point from a work created in 2024, a frontal portrait whose surface is structured through a fourfold folding. Rendered in sepia tones, it recalls an aged photograph – an image one might happen upon in the pocket of a coat or between the pages of a book.

It is less the motif itself than the moment of rediscovery that becomes the central theme: a sudden impulse, a memory that cannot be fully grasped and yet evokes a deep emotional response. The depicted figure remains undefined, appearing both familiar and foreign. This mode of representation, situated between the general and the individual, lies at the core of Bertram Hasenauer’s work. His 'portraits' are not depictions of specific people, but rather condensations; figures that appear as archetypes while still conveying a sense of personal presence. By eluding fixed identity, they remain in a state of suspension between accessibility and withdrawal. This combination produces an image that is to be experienced rather than read.

Formally, subtle irritations such as doublings, minor shifts, or fragmentary interventions disrupt the apparent coherence of the composition. They lend the works an inner movement and point to time not as a linear sequence, but as a process of layering and transformation that inscribes itself into the image as a trace. This ambivalence is further intensified through color: muted tones of brown, white, and gray meet monochromatic blocks of intense red or blue, whose luminosity emerges through layers of transparent glazes.

Materiality plays a central role. In more recent works, Bertram Hasenauer contrasts his finely layered, controlled painting technique with coarsely primed canvases. This approach creates a distinct physical presence and is closely connected to his background as a sculptor, through which he conceives of painting in spatial terms. Materiality – particularly in the carefully rendered folds – thus often becomes a quiet carrier of meaning within the works.

In this way, the works emerge as both anchored in the present and timeless. They invite the viewer to engage with subtle shifts, those moments in which perception and imagination intertwine. Through this openness, the paintings become sites of encounter: never fully resolved, but continuing to unfold in the gaze of the viewer.