Werner Buettner: Undichte Schluesselloecher Exhibition Catalogue CFA Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin

Has Werner Buettner's world of images indeed grown funnier, more colorful, or should one, follow­ing Kristian Vistrup Madsen's observations, consider it to be invariably gloomy and oppressive? The latter certainly applies to a work such as "Brueder (Kain + Abel)" from 1983, but no longer in such ­exclusivity to his most recent works. Here, the bitter singing of NO-FUTURE by the protagonists of the 1980s is accompanied by a good portion of ironic melancholy and caustic mockery. His use of color has also changed—the earthy tones giving way to a certain signal-like quality, yet without severing the connection to his earlier works. But what led to such a melancholy softening of his worldview? Is it a general consequence of getting older? Or is it based on the more specific consciousness of now actually being too old for the Not-wanting-to-become-like-the-old-folk (in the 1980s)? Or does everything have its rather simple reason in the realization: Alcohol (dis-)solves everything—or is it self-knowledge which outshines everything, but still can hardly prevent that madness and confusion that continues to play their game with us?

Zdenek Felix, born 1938 in Prague, is a German art historian and curator of contemporary art and photography. He studied philosophy and history at the Charles University in Prague, where he also received his doctorate. Kristian Vistrup Madsen is a Danish writer based in Berlin. He graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2016, and writes art journalism for various publications such as Artforum, Studio International, and Leap. Nicole Hackert and Bruno Brunnet (the founder of the gallery in 1992) are a permanent part of the international gallery world with CFA situated now at Grolmanstraße in Berlin/Charlottenburg.