Peter Kogler “Ants” 1995

Since the early 1980s, the internationally successful artist Peter Kogler has been engaged with the (at that time) upcoming new technologies. In 1997 he took charge of the “New Media” class at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and subsequently developed impressive installations dealing with the advancing technologies.
Ants are one of Peter Kogler’s recurring motifs. Thus, Rainer Fuchs writes about the ant motif in Kogler’s oeuvre: “Because of its symmetrical body shape and its ability to build and use labyrinths as orientation and working systems, the ant therefore seemed to Peter Kogler to be an ideal motif.”
Peter Kogler took advantage of technological possibilities that were still new back in the 1980s, processing his motifs digitally and implementing them with traditional, analog means, like this unique silkscreen on canvas from 1995.
As in the larger pieces with the characteristic ant motif, Kogler lines up the insects in a repetitive manner. On this small format, which appears to be a cut out, the viewer gets almost the impression that the animals are moving in and out of the picture in an orderly fashion. With their pixelated look the magnified ants also refer to the artist’s preferred medium . On the blue background, the motif unfolds powerfully and appears almost in a pop-art style.