Dieter Roth

Dieter Roth was an intermedia, performance, and object artist, poet, and graphic designer. He explored many facets of artistic creation — from painting and drawing to writing poetry and com-posing music — and never allowed himself to be confined to a single style or location. Among the few constants in Roth’s practice was his engagement with limited-edition formats such as books, prints, and multiples, which he created from his student days until the end of his life.

In the 1960s, Roth developed a unique visual system consisting of twenty-two images, each corresponding to one or two letters of the Latin alphabet. He had a series of stamps made from his sketches, with which he created over 300 stamp drawings, four of which are on view in the exhibition. In 1967, the stamp drawings were published in the book MUNDUNCULUM, accompanied by a caption assigning the symbols to their respective letters, as well as additional texts and illustrations by the artist. These stamp drawings can also be read as texts, although Roth intentionally made them difficult to decipher by claiming that each symbol takes on different meanings depending on its orientation.

Oswald Wiener and Dieter Roth were united not only by a friendship but above all by a shared interest in the use of language as a medium and in the radical dissolution of traditional forms in art and literature. For both artists, the focus is not on the finished work but on the depiction of processes, combined with an exploration of the possibilities and limitations of representing thought, perception, and linguistic sequences.

Dieter Roth collaborated directly with Ingrid Wiener. Between 1974 and 1997, five woven tapestries were created, initially in collaboration with VALIE EXPORT. These works reflect Roth’s engagement with so-called ​“feminine” cultural techniques, his openness to all media, and his sensitivity to oppressed and marginalized artistic practices. The painting on display, Die Löwen von L. (The Lions of L.), is inscribed to Ingrid and Oswald Wiener and depicts a big cat that — trapped within various layers and suggested by geometric forms — itself houses a kind of enclosure. The motif of this lion reappears in the collaborative work Großer Teppich (Big Carpet) by Dieter Roth and Ingrid Wiener. There, she lies directly behind the artist, who is portrayed in the tapestry. Complementing Roth’s works, the exhibition also features personal notes and letters.

Stempelbild (Stempelzeichnung), 1975
Original drawing on tracing paper, created using a rubber stamp
70 × 95,5 cm, framed

Stempelbild (Stempelzeichnung), 1975
Original drawing on tracing paper, created using a rubber stamp
70 × 95,5 cm, framed

Stempelbild (Stempelzeichnung), 1975
Original drawing on tracing paper, created using a rubber stamp
70 × 95,5 cm, framed

Stempelbild (Stempelzeichnung), 1975
Original drawing on tracing paper, created using a rubber stamp
70 × 95,5 cm, framed

All works Courtesy Philipp Konzett, Vienna

Die Löwen von L. (3 Stück), 1973
Acrylic on paper
60 × 40 cm, framed
Courtesy Ingrid Wiener, Kapfenstein