In Japan, “Otaku” is the name given to a person who remains within one system and who communicates exclusively within that system.

This almost autistic self-referencing has been recoded by Obholzer into an art system, and he makes pictures which have nothing in common except their length and breadth. Using basic trigonometry, he develops rectangles that fit into the chosen picture format according to the degree of rotation. In this way, he achieves the maximum of of a type of self-reference, a subject that increasingly interests him.

Obholzer lays down his layers of tempera colour on flat sheets of aluminium on top of which there is a transparent layer to keep the surfaces in movement and balance them against each other. The layers are bounded by zigzag lines, which make the motive astonishingly three-dimensional, forming a physical relief-like space.

Once again, Obholzer proves that the results of aesthetic production processes have to be consistently put up for discussion in order to achieve the degree of contemporaneity that is his programme.

Brigitte Huck, 2005 (translation: Tim Sharp)