In the group of work entitled „Phosphorbilder“ (Phosphorous Paintings) J.S. works very closely in the painting tradition. For a time, the monochrome painting was regarded as the Nirvana of abstract art. In this phantom formula there is a balance of material commitment and visual promises of happiness. The material used in J.S.’s panel paintings originate from south European industrial plants where phosphorous paste is painted on the sides of match boxes. The origin of the metaphysics of these paintings remain open. If you try to find a statement for these paintings which stretches beyond the ”just look“ attitude, it would not be „painting must burn“ as our COOP Himmelblau collegues formulated in the world of architecture. It is a question of the viewer engaged in a monosyllabic dialogue, a slanderous remark which refers to a mutual deficit. More like:” You got a match?” (Bacall to Bogart in “To Have and Have Not”)
(Lucas Horvath)
Phosphor paste*, which withholds a fire inhibitor, evokes- strangely enough when applied on a matchbox- associations such as the very making of fire but also heat and burning. This double binded attraction triggered another thought: I applied this paste on prepared canvases in different sizes. They gave me the impression of huge matchboxes. Thought of as paintings, every time i´d look at them i seemed to feel a changing range of emotions, partly osscilating between object and surface. Since the interactive aspect played a role from the beginning, i chose in 2003 to present this long time attempt. One of those two works had been hanging in a local scene hype place ending up for different reasons showing signs of abration. Traces of vandalism, cigarette smoke and altogether aging process evidently also contributed to this transformation.The traces left on the matchbox when lighting cigarettes... visible in some areas have been also fading over the years, an effect that brought me again to the point of departure. The other one had been acquired and exhibited during the exhibition „Feuer und Flamme“(“Fire and Flame“) in 2015 by the Stift Admont Museum- and treated accordingly. *The phosphor paste was offered to me by the head of a matchbox factory, given the fact that it is not publicly for sale. with special thanks to Risto Pentikainen