Finding the balance between humor and seriousness is a difficult task some of us may never accomplish; for Friedrich Kunath, it’s an art form, and he’s bringing it to the Hammer Museum.
Opening Friday and continuing through September, Kunath’s installation, “We Are All In This Alone,” will completely cover the lobby area of the museum. His artwork follows a theme of the male midlife crisis, delving into very somber and thoughtful areas, but also has a definite sense of humor that brings a more optimistic feel to the artwork.
“It’s an aesthetic balance of both extremes, extremely melancholic and extremely happy,” Kunath said. “These grand emotions are exactly what I’m interested in.”
The installation is a collection of 31 paintings and two sculptures arranged in the museum’s lobby and staircase area, he said. The walls are completely covered with various men’s suit fabric, including wool and corduroy, and several dark colors and patterns.
“At first I was thinking that the lobby is a very cold place because it’s a passing-through sort of place, and I wanted to make it a comfortable, private club kind of atmosphere,” said Kunath. “I chose fabric that would represent a costume of the ordinary man.”
Over the fabric, the many paintings are arranged in “salon-style” hanging, which means they are packed closely together all over the wall, from floor to ceiling.
“This is a more traditional way to hang,” said the exhibit’s curator, Anne Ellegood. “These days, if you go to a contemporary exhibition, it’s very rare that the artists actually hang their work that way, so it kind of harkens to another era.”
Ellegood said that she also thinks the layout of the paintings brings the art together into one giant collective piece. Curatorial associate Corrina Peipon agreed that the pieces work together in a way that is very meaningful.
“Each painting is like a word in a paragraph,” Peipon said. “Each does have life on its own, but Friedrich is really interested in exhibiting them in these groups that become one big work of its own.”
Each painting is made up of two very distinctive qualities: In the background, Kunath paints an abstract, vibrantly colorful artwork onto the canvas. Over that, he paints, draws or silk-screens very simple black, cartoon-like figures. Ellegood said that the two aspects create a very full and satisfying experience for the viewer by balancing the comical, narrative nature of the illustrated figures with that of the more artistic, beautiful backgrounds.
Kunath’s work also involves the clever use of text, whether in the artwork itself or as part of the title. Many of the pieces, including “I lost you but I found country music” and “Eat, Drink, and Remarry” use humorous words to lighten the emotions of loss and loneliness depicted in the art, he said.
Kunath describes the exhibit as a “portrait gallery of an ongoing identity crisis.” The paintings all feature men who seem sad, alone or confused about their place in life, instilling the idea of a person in midlife crisis deep into the viewer’s mind. Throughout the exhibit, Kunath seems to comment on the loneliness of humankind while still emphasizing a sense of hope and interconnectivity through emotion.
“There is this cyclical element evoked that comes through with the paintings,” Ellegood said. “So there’s always this rebirth in a way. I also find that as downtrodden, confused or lonely as these characters are, they are also rather resilient-feeling at the same time.”
Peipon said that although the exhibit can be dark, it provides the viewers with plenty to relate to and appreciate.
“I think Friedrich has been thinking a lot about middle-aged men in particular, and what it’s like to go through life and be an adult and confront the basic fact that life is finite,” said Peipon. “I think people will really appreciate the detail and beauty involved, but also, people will be able to appreciate how funny it is, how real it is, because we all know what it is to grow older.”
To Kunath, creating the perfect balance of somber and silly is the real life of his work.
“Of course, this has absurd and funny and grotesque moments,” Kunath said. “It’s always important to go to stupid and banal places to understand the pathos, you know. In a way, humor acts almost like my Trojan horse, to make it really easy to understand and then suddenly twist you around and put you on a rollercoaster, something really more complex than it seemed in the first place.”