Tiergarten, Berlin
Lena Göbel
Lost in Transmission
PSM[Please scroll down for German version / Für Deutsch bitte scrollen Sie nach unten] Lena Göbel (b. 1983 in Ried im Innkreis, Austria) works with the traditional printing techniques of woodcut and drypoint in combination with painting and collage techniques. However, rather than transferring her motifs on the typical soft wood chosen specifically for printing, she uses found wood or historical wooden objects whose narrative often influences the resulting motifs. Due to the rather fibrous, rough quality of the wood, the chiseled and carved printing blocks produce image carriers whose cracked aesthetics are then transferred onto the prints, creating the idiosyncratic style of Lena Göbel's works. The prints are removed from the colored carved reliefs with thin paper and collaged with shellac in individual fragments and layers on prepared canvases, which are then painted and further elaborated upon. For her exhibition Lost in Transmission, Lena Göbel uses discarded everyday objects from her mother's side of the family as image carriers. In addition to historical cider barrels from the family's own wine press, a former gate from her grandfather's locksmith's workshop serves as material into which she incorporates portraits of her ancestors and pictures of the transmission. The transmission, a historic belt drive, was used to centrally drive all the machines in the locksmith's workshop via several drive belts, starting from a central drive motor. By transforming these historical objects into carved printing blocks, she carefully and powerfully approaches her family history with her own (visual) language and transports it into the present. For the artist, the historical transmission, constructed by her grandfather himself, symbolizes movement and translates into the passage of time. She interprets the transmission of power from the drive unit via belts to the machines connected to it as a symbol of the passing on of knowledge and talents within a family. Lena Göbel has carved images of the transmission and its drive belts into the individual staves of the two wooden cider barrels and old wooden panels. In the first room of the exhibition, the barrels and the painting collages created from these printing blocks provide a thematic introduction to looking back at family life in the Austrian countryside. The passage into the second room appears visually blocked at first by the large former gate of the grandfather's workshop. An old yellow sign with the inscription 'Keep exit clear' gives us an idea of a possible passage through the wooden wall from afar. As visitors pass through the small wooden door, following in the footsteps of the family history, they find images of women carved into the surface of the former inside of the wooden barrier: depicted are the grandmother Maria and her sister Berta, one image depicts them holding hands and the other is of Berta alone. The two women ran the family's country inn, the only establishment within their small rural community - the grandmother was the landlady while her sister was an exceptional cook. Although the grandfather was a Frankenburg native and, as a locksmith, quite an influential man within this small community, it was the women who really set the tone in the family, particularly with their gastronomy, allowing the entire community and especially the men of the family to taste either their favor or disfavor. The former restaurant still stands today, almost untouched by the passage of time, furnished as it once was when these two women gave the inn its soul. The parlor has long since fallen into disuse - at least not in the traditional use of a public restaurant. Now the room is populated by an endless number of stacked pictures, etchings and other prints from the two subsequent generations - from Lena Göbel's parents as well as from Lena herself. The artist is showing two selected works by her parents in the third room of the gallery. Maria Moser, born in Frankenburg, Austria, in 1948, is a painter and sculptor. After some early large sculptures made of iron, steel, wood and stone, she devoted herself almost exclusively to painting. She mostly paints large-format oil paintings on canvas, alongside works on paper and graphics. Maria Moser also processes impressions from her father's forge in abstract form, borrowing from the embers or fire, an anvil, or such force-intensive processes as bending and breaking. She finds other motifs whilst traveling, in nature and in scrap yards. Heinz Göbel, born in 1947 in Salzburg, died in 2013 in Frankenburg, Austria, was a painter and graphic artist. The printing press he used to create his etchings was built by his father-in-law according to his designs. It was the first and only printing press in the region and many artists came to visit in order to use the press. The copper etching on display from 1991 shows the surface of the stump of a felled tree. Further enriching the exhibition and its history, Lena Göbel shows old photographs and newspaper clippings in addition to her parents' works, which show the grandparents in their respective professions and reports on the history of the restaurant and the various functions of the 400-year-old building. A hand-filmed video shows footage from the building's wine cellar, where the family's own cider has been maturing for generations. Lena Göbel (b. 1983) is an Austrian artist based in Frankenburg am Hausruck. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 2008, and has lived and worked between Berlin and Frankenburg since. Recent solo exhibitions solo exhibitions include Moser in a Mostshell, Frames, Galerie 422, Gmunden (2024); AONGHUS, Spaced Out, Gut Kerkow (2024); Two worlds and in between, Galerie Bernsteinzimmer, Nürnberg (2022); Lucretia, My Reflection, Museumspavillon, Salzburg (2021). Göbel has also participated in several group exhibitions, including Ausstellung der Kunstresidenz Bad Gastein, Kraftwerk Bad Gastein (2023); Black is the loneliest colour, Kunstverein Eisenstadt (2022); Apeiron - Why Austrinas Now?, The Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Litauen/Vilnius (2021). ***** Lena Göbel (geboren 1983 in Ried im Innkreis, Österreich) arbeitet ausgehend von den traditionellen Drucktechniken des Holzschnitt und der Kaltnadelradierung in Kombination mit Malerei und Collagetechniken. Sie überträgt ihre Bildmotive allerdings nicht klassisch in weiches, möglichst nicht faserndes Holz, sondern bedient sich gefundener Hölzer oder historischer Holzobjekte, deren Geschichte oft ausschlaggebend für die daraus entstehenden Bildmotive sind. Für ihre Ausstellung Lost in Transmission bedient sich Göbel ausrangierter Gebrauchsgegenstände aus dem Besitz ihrer Familie mütterlicherseits. Zu Druckstöcken verarbeitet wurden neben Mostfässern aus der häuslichen Kelterei auch ein ehemaliges Tor der Schlosserwerkstatt ihres Großvaters, hinter dem über eine Transmission, ein Riemengetriebe, sämtliche Maschinen zentral angetrieben wurden. Das Element des Antriebs symbolisiert für die Künstlerin Bewegung und den Lauf der Zeit. In der technischen und visuellen Transformation der historischen Objekte in Druckvorlagen ihrer eigenen Bildsprache nähert sie sich behutsam und kraftvoll ihrer eigenen Familiengeschichte an und transportiert diese in die Gegenwart.