Based on certain criteria, Markus Schinwald has been acquiring
and collecting nineteenth-century portraits and nudes by forgotten
and usually anonymous artists for several years. After carefully
restoring these oil paintings, he alters their message through the
subtle and subversive introduction of specific elements – from
masks and prostheses to details in the bodies or clothing of the figures
– thus making them his own. Since the additions and changes
imitate the style of the original artist, the observer cannot readily
understand how the altering of perception and effect actually
works. For the Kunsthaus Bregenz, the artist has selected six
details from some of these paintings, turning them into the backdrops
of posters that are reminiscent of billboards advertising
big film productions.