With Giotto, painting turned from the portrayal of two-dimensional figures positioned against a flat background to three-dimensional representations in the early fourteenth century. Ernst Caramelle, born in Hall, Tyrol in 1952, focuses on technique and pictorial composition instead of backgrounds creating a Giottoesque depth in the present work. He thus thematizes and chooses an issue of painting as his means of expression which had been essential before the three-dimensional representation prevailing in the following centuries: the rendering of depth by means of two-dimensional elements and the variation of color intensities. With this approach Caramelle takes his place among a number of great painters who were also fascinated with this theme. It is not the task which is new, but the subtle timbre of the work, which also holds true for the other pictures of the series.

This quality is mainly achieved thanks to the chosen technique: gesso is a colorfast priming coat made from rabbit-skin glue and whiting, which results in a fresco-like appearance in combination with the gouache applied in glazes or opaque layers. Contrasting with the color areas’ cloudy character, their hard edges and right angles contribute to this impression. This unfolds a dialectics between the picture’s abstract quality and the two-dimensional effect of the pictorial elements, which is also strongly determined by the coloring. The frame, door and meander motifs provide an additional level of dynamic, shifting meanings which, against the background of the viewer’s perceptual experiences, trigger manifold chains of associations. Resting in itself at first sight, the picture acquires a long-lasting shimmering presence because of these complex qualities.

Paul Katzberger, 2011 (translation: Wolfgang Astelbauer)