Josef Zekoff inquires into the human place in the world: very directly as a naked, vulnerable figure, as inaccessible architectures or inconspicuous things of commodity. Like »archaic objects,« these figures, vessels, labyrinths seem to be »more at home in mythology« than in reality, thus their supposed archaism abruptly shifts into the present: »Here all is inside and there is no outside. The inside is felt, sensed, perceived, the outside is touched and, above all else, seen.« (Anselm Wagner) As larger-than-life containers, Zekoff’s paintings become symbols of preservation and remembrance, as abstract path systems, they allude to the uncertainty of any clear positioning.

On the occasion of his solo exhibition at Kunstverein Heppenheim, which for the first time institutionally honors the work of the Austrian painter, draftsman and publisher, Zekoff has created a ravishing artist’s book. At its center, as if in a time capsule, is a selection of paintings from the past year. A portfolio of drawings—most recent and intricately bound by hand around the inner core—opens the coverless book into an absolute nowness.