Galerie Kandlhofer is pleased to present Bellaboteurs, the third solo exhibition of Alicia Viebrock (b. 1986, Munich) at the gallery. The title is an amalgamation of the words ‘bella’ and ‘saboteur’, fusing the concepts of beauty and deliberate destruction. These seemingly diametrically opposed notions are re-appraised by Viebrock, who considers the possibility for closeness between these ideas - instances where a pursuit of an ideal may lead to the destruction of the very objective itself. Viebrock’s works are a stage where these notions play out, oscillating across extremes such as dense colourfield and empty spaces, total spontaneity and deliberate placement, as well as shifting between monochromatic and vibrant colour palettes.

Painting, as both process and result, is highly personal for Viebrock. Requiring total immersion and absorption into her surroundings, existence, experience, observations and thoughts, the resulting works are receptacles of a monumental energy transfer and can be understood as emotional self-portraits. Colour itself presents a series of unique properties, its vibrational potential operating as a unique language, a conduit of communication and counter-balancing force.