In Kotscha Reist’s figurative painting, the focus is not merely on the depiction of an object, a person, or a living being, but rather on how the image is framed and constructed. Photographic references from his (private) image archive serve as the starting point. These are motifs we think we recognize, yet through their painterly transformation, they acquire a distinctive, often uncanny twist.

“These essentially uneventful images confront us with a paradoxical situation: The absence of a clearly defined temporal continuum or an explicit narrative heightens the tension and the continuous, subtle dynamism with which these images are charged. The more we approach them, the more they seem to withdraw. Without any ‘action,’ they are imbued with an ambivalent, quiet atmosphere that, upon viewing, can evoke a diffuse, melancholic-nostalgic sense of farewell, as well as an insatiable curiosity and a dynamic urge to explore, to gain new knowledge through new ways of seeing.”
— Invar-Tolle Hollaus

Kotscha Reist’s works reveal a heightened awareness of art historical references and his engagement with the ongoing discourse surrounding painting.
This monograph, with its densely atmospheric sequence of images, offers insight into his artistic output of the past ten years.