Zoom, Reise zum Grund des Bildes, vom Kleinen ins Kleinste

Abstract

Summary: The paintings and sculptures of Antoni Tàpies are violent, closed and hermetic, but also covered by a fine layer of ciphers, signs and scratches. Thus, they hide an invisible ground which they, however, simultaneously begin to provide access to. Tàpies offers a vision and a reading at the same time. However, apart from seeing and reading, there is a third way to penetrate an image: touch. The romans-collage by Max Ernst, the issue of script in the work of Cy Twombly and the illustrations of the Austrian writer Erwin Moser may help us to understand the significance of touch in Tàpies’ plastic art. [Keywords: Tàpies; Cy Twombly; Max Ernst; Erwin Moser; zoom; montage; collage; journey; disaster; scripture; crypt; stroke; art history; ground of the image; touch; painting]