Klaus Lutz: Titan

Klaus Lutz, still from Titan, 2008/13
Gelatin-silver print
Film still photographed by the artist from 16mm film projection
Edition of 3 (+1 Estate Print)
30 x 40 in
[click on the image for full view]

I had the pleasure of coming upon animation images I'd never seen before-- from an artist unknown to me--
at the Armory Fair. It was Klaus Lutz, the late Swiss artist who
worked in Manhattan until his death in 2009. A little bit like stills
from a Georges Méliès film, the Lutz images cast a spell even more more mysterious,
involving layered exposures, and drawings over 16mm film shots somewhere past midnight.

The white figurative drawing on black

stopped me in my tracks. Lutz made

a transfer of secret treasures, as if to pass images in small

celluloid packets, from one hand to another, or left in an envelope

slipped between door and floor. Titan's lot is an ironic fight via

incremental stabs and jabs, left hooks and feints, against the

indifference of the world.

A fantastic play unfolds for hours before dawn...

- CM

Klaus Lutz, still from Titan, 2008/2013
Gelatin-silver print
Film still photographed by the artist from 16mm film projection
Edition of 3 (+1 Estate Print)
30 x 40 in
[click on the image for full view]

"The oeuvre of Klaus Lutz comes together as a fascinating, densely interlaced universe all its own. Based the premise that written language would soon be replaced by entirely visual communication, Lutz created an intricate sign system that he deployed across a whole range of media (16mm film, film stills, drawing, etching, and performance). Initially his preferred media were small-format dry-point etchings and copperplate engravings of narrative image sequences, some of them based on the writings of Robert Walser, whose work was of crucial importance to Lutz. Later Lutz turned to experimental filmmaking and film performances. By means of multiple exposures, various types of lenses, and self-constructed apparatuses, he created films that combined and overlapped layers of animation, performance, drawings and scenes shot on the streets of New York, where he had been living since 1993. Lutz shot the films all by himself in his one-bedroom East Village apartment. Reminiscent of early silent movies by Georges Méliès or Charlie Chaplin, the films relate the adventures of one man, Lutz himself, in a quixotic universe poised between dream and reality and made up of signs, shapes, everyday objects, and footage of the outside world. Presented in the format of Lutz’ spectacular invention, the balloon projection, Titan tells the story of the space odyssey of “small titan,” who suffers from delusions of grandeur and who playfully and elegantly captivates us to the point that we allow ourselves to be enchanted and transported to far-flung territories..." - Martin Jaeggi (Translation Laura Schleussner)