Matthias Bleyl 2006: Monolithic systems and the site-specific in the work of Jochen Kitzbihler
Fig: Oseok 2003 | International Sculpture Symposium Icheon, Korea | black basalt erratic block | incut, partially grinded | 320 x 160 x 100 cm
Matthias Bleyl, Monolithic systems and the site-specific in the work of Jochen Kitzbihler
Jochen Kitzbihler is an authentic stone sculptor. Even though he has produced temporary room installations featuring wood rather than stone, both his approach and objective are essentially monolithic in nature; this applies equally to indoor installations, outdoor projects and also his photography. In more simple terms you could say that stone is what interests him; he has a sculptural approach to it, and his works are site-specific.
Sculpture can be described as a subtractive technique, since it presupposes starting with a solid block, whether of stone, wood or a similarly hard material, from which material is hewn away or subtracted. As such it forms a sharp contrast to plastic arts techniques. In this sense, Kitzbihler most certainly pursues a traditional strategy, given that he begins with a solid block of stone or monolith and treats them in the strictest sense of the word, sculpturally. This is no longer achieved using a hammer and chisel but state-of-the-art technology. However, this statement needs to be qualified somewhat: Today, cutting stones with a saw is effectively no more than accelerated chiseling at the mi-cro-level since each saw-tooth acts on the stone like a small strike with the chisel and virtually pulverizes it at tremendous speed. Kitzbihler splits, saws and grinds the stone, and the results of his treatment are not room-filling installations featuring several materials such as those favored in recent decades in the international art scene. Admittedly, many of Kitzbihler’s works are very much site-specific and his indoor works can also be described as installations, occasionally even featuring un-hewn stones, and yet they typically occupy or structure only a clearly defined section of the available interior and even the multi-part works always have the character of solo works.
Kitzbihler’s works stand in the tradition of concrete and also Minimalist art, since in the broadest sense they confirm their self-referential principles. They represent nothing apart from themselves. However, this is not to say that they have no meaning beyond their actual form. Moreover, as regards division, opening and re-ordering, they are usually subject to very general mathematical operations. However, what is alien to them is both the supremacy of strict geometry (manifested say in the exclusive use of right angles and preference for the square as a structuring figure), but also that virtually clinical-aseptic purism of execution, which is expressed for example in the suppression of material qualities in concrete and Minimalist art.