Max Dauphin

Fellner contemporary                        25 February - 17 April 2021

MAX DAUPHIN - TRAVELOGUES

Max Dauphin's artistic work is characterised by longer stays abroad, some of which lasted several years, during which he worked on location. For this exhibition, we have selected works from the times he spent in Mongolia, Senegal and the USA. Most of the works have not yet been shown.

Formally, Max paints figuratively and freely, always in function of the narrative that is to be conveyed. To this end, he has developed his own colour palettes in the respective blocks of works, such as captivating green tones in the works from Mongolia or the brown variants for the paintings developed in Africa.

Depicted are stories he experienced, observations of traditions or rituals, but also political situations and backgrounds that he was able to see up close during his long stays.

The pictures from Mongolia show people wearing traditional Buddhist masks, because pride forbids the pictorial showing of their faces. A country partly dependent on its big neighbours Russia and China, with an inhospitable climate and sometimes great poverty. At the same time, Mongolia is rich in magnificent and vast landscapes and exciting traditions.

Max Dauphin's stay in Senegal is marked by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. Here, among other things, he captured the wrestling rituals. It is again about the pride of men, which is realised in the game. But the artist has also documented a downside of tourism, prostitution, which brings both white men and women into the country.

The USA is shown in the pictures with its contradictions. A country that seems close to us but, lacking traditions, has developed its own pop-cultural myths, without fear of kitsch.

In his travelogues, Max Dauphin provides us with a view that is aware of its outsider's perspective, but has ventured very close to it. This is also part of his personality, unbiased, sometimes courageous and always with respect.