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KaRaSu - Aspects

KaRaSu Klaus Schrefler
Klaus KaRaSu Schrefler
Klaus Schrefler, KaRaSu
©Ina Kazenmaier, Peloponnes, 1992
©Wolfgang Kubik Kapfenberg, 2001
©Franz Hofer,Graz, 1998


I have spent most of my life trying to come behind the basic rhythms of nature, of life itself. It was because of that urgent need to find the matrix of order and chaos that made me study natural sciences. Starting with chemistry I was soon not satisfied with the direction the studies were leading to, as well as with the vision of jobs that could have been mine in a time. It was much more ecology that seemed to give answers to all my questions that were forming day by day. Therefore I advanced my studies in biology focussing on ecology, being an expert on visual media observation of biotope structures in the Austrian Alps. Just that time I had this terrible motorcycle accident that turned out to be one of the best cristallization points of my life. ............

My interest in using art as a means of expression began . I started by creating visual works about my pain, caused by the fact that violence is part of human nature. I started by trying to get an answer to the question "why war?" Followed by the idea of trying to understand all human despair, that leads to chaos - everything was concerning the validity of human existence. At that time most inspiring to me was the intense struggle to understand without accusing: violence, war, genocide, all the dark sides of human kind became reasons for visual expression, every such incident led to growth and wisdom. Finally as many of the "dark sides" were treated, I started with a new phase, the "book of the postapocalyptic light". Thats were we are...

I work in a variety of media starting with a basic idea and pulling from stimuli close to my life. The subjects are chosen by inspiring moments of what I call natural rhythms, of spiritual backgrounds, of philosophy. Initialized by journeys, relationships, politics and thoughts, whatever. My main aim is to transport both the answers and the questions to a grander scale and a universal language. Visuals can be shocking or beautiful, can be realistic or abstract, the media may build stills or moving pictures . What they all have in common is the wish to express ideas by mirroring other people´s fears, wishes, demands and questions. Visual harmony is one of my basic demands, creating becomes understood as "thought" - a process, everchanging by means of time. The works are abstract in composition, realistic in form, and surreal in content. Seeking a visual harmony the freedom to draw from a multitude of disciplines and combine painting with photography and video with performance, or with music and sound, even with poetry or dance, has allowed me to fully explore the creative style that has always dominated my working method.

[karasu, 2002]

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..it seems to be quite natural one should face a wide array of "deep feeling" as the end of the millennium rolls around. The unspoken imagination of the apocalypse nourishes the spirit of our time. Everyone is finding his way along a path which returns to his soul.  If not in this world then in a virtual one, "a brave new world"; where nothing is bodily anymore, where fear becomes thrill, and death has no lethal consequences.  Game over.  Try again.  In the cynical world the initial feeling, often mystical, is declared to be the enemy of the system and an ally is to be found in the construction "zeitgeist".  Filled with  weapons of satire they approach art, projects, human beings and deep feeling is found in the banal; lackadasical rhythms of the
body, mind, and soul.
Those who are searching for the easy way out avert darkness. They can never conjure the sun for

there is no light without darkness!
Whoever denies the aesthetics of obscurity reveals himself often forgetting

the fundamental, essential I which unifies all.
In the beginning, craving for the opposites of unity and love appear contradictory.  If the shape of the globe is perceived to be the perfect form, perhaps individuals are not willing to answer where is the beginning of the end.  There is possibility that movement points in all directions and each demarcation contains a degree of resistance which releases vitality through tension offering new direction.  Lines are never straight just as colors always change with light.  Art, without limitation, will give and take......

take a picture and paint it back.

more

[Dietmar Tschmelak & karasu, 1998]