Playing With Dimensions

“Grey Series”

The Hammer, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The idea of the “Grey Series” is the following: There is always the same frame – a grey box that indicates the dimension in which we live. We perceive the surface of the frame as belonging to our world.

The Drinker, Wolfgang Lettl, 1988, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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A picture is “stuck” to the back of the box. There you will find a wide variety of subjects:

Still lifes, landscapes, nudes, surreal compositions.

Winter, Wolfgang Lettl, 1988, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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We see that the image is painted on paper because the paper is becoming detached from the background, and because of the painted cracks at the edges of the imaginary sheet.

The Breakdown, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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A great many different objects are lying on the grey frame, most of them belonging to everyday life. This creates  interesting possibilities for playful juxtaposition and nesting in different areas of the painting.

Seagulls, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The observer will want to remove  or exchange the objects, because they are lying in his dimension and do not seem to be part of the framed picture.

Gizeh, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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But these everyday objects always interact with the composition in the background.

They influence it although they exist in a different dimension.

Prometheus, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Wolfgang Lettl's surreal recipe is this:

Paint objects that don't go together in an unreal space, and you will get surprising compositions that may be more or less meaningful.

Smuggler, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The Duel, Wolfgang Lettl, 1985, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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In the infinite vastness of the sea of possibilities there is a bridge.

Someone wants to go up.

At the top he meets someone.

The Duel, Wolfgang Lettl, 1985, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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He recognizes that the rival is himself

- and challenges himself to a duel.

The Duel, Wolfgang Lettl, 1985, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The Third Act, Wolfgang Lettl, 1988, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Fog, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The Philosophers, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Philosophers are people who go to great lengths to try and solve problems that lie outside our normal world of experience.

They want to unearth the truth from other dimensions.

The Philosophers, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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In the process they find out that they reach their limits very fast.

Pulling a nail from a wall in a different dimension can become a life's work and an unsolvable problem.

The Philosophers, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Icebreaker, Wolfgang Lettl, 1988, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Ariadne, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Venere Sipontina, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Having your own wife for a model is ideal, she is always available, and if something is missing in a painting, you can always have your wife lying there, she always looks good. With time you get to know her by heart, so you don’t need a model at all anymore, or very rarely for some detail.

Venere Sipontina, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Clothespins, too, are always available to me, but although they have beautiful colours and lie still so nicely, they cannot compete with my Venus.

Venere Sipontina, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Urbi et Orbi, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Residual Risk, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Arc Noir, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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When a shoe brush meets a triumphal arch you would have to assume that the shoe brush is meaningless.

And when a king meets a beggar, or a philosopher an idiot, there is a similar imbalance.

Arc Noir, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Who sets the standards?

In my painting I like the shoe brush much better, because a smell of usefulness adheres to it.

It smells of shoe polish. It is closer to me.

Arc Noir, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The Storm, Wolfgang Lettl, 1988, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Lilofee, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The attraction of surrealism is its ability to bring images from the unconscious into consciousness.

As if one were to pull a fish from the unreal painted water and carry it through the painting into the frying pan.

Lilofee, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The zigzag course of the shadow of the fishing rod and the question as to where the wet net should be dripping give us an inkling of the difficulties arising from such an endeavour.

Lilofee, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The Moor's Ear, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Troia, Wolfgang Lettl, 1988, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The mobile, progress-oriented society runs back and forth aimlessly and headlessly.

It draws its legitimacy from the number of followers.

Troia, Wolfgang Lettl, 1988, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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If everybody does it, it can't be wrong.

They are all pursuing happiness.

I fear they have lost the keys.

Troia, Wolfgang Lettl, 1988, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The Editor, Wolfgang Lettl, 1987, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Departure, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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The last picture in this series is called “Departure”.

In the background you can see a group of refugees marked by hardship as they wander through the painting.

Departure, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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A hole punch lies on the grey frame.

In the painting it becomes a  symbol of what is left behind or what remains when people go from us.

Departure, Wolfgang Lettl, 1986, From the collection of: Lettl Collection
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Credits: Story

Curator of the Lettl Collection—Florian Lettl

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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