The title of Aljoscha Tschaidse’s exhibition, Sehnsucht, belongs to the group of elusive German words which are difficult to translate accurately. Often they evoke a feeling that is beyond language or which could be described through a variety of words in other languages. The literal translation of Sehnsucht in English is to yearn (Sehnen) and addiction (Sucht), but what it really means is an obsession, a longing to see something or someone that belongs to the past.

In relation to his practice Tschaidse questions the productive force attained through experiences of longing -turning the described auto-destructive feeling into a productive force. Throughout the exhibition this theme is explored both physiologically and physically – investigating the relationship between creative and destructive forces. Both Aljoscha’s state during the process of Painting and the works’ reception aspire to be like the emotions granted through the experience of listening to music. References to music culture are placed throughout the show, the title Sehnsucht is borrowed from the corresponding album by German Metal Band Rammstein – whose notorious live shows both echo sexual fantasies (fire, sex and death), while simultaneously challenging and questioning masculinity itself.

If the void inscribed in both titles (Rammstein & Aljoscha Tschaidse’s exhibition) can be counteracted by anything I would suggest the obvious: consuming the content they describe. In this sense the titles are author-referential; commenting on a state of being while simultaneously displaying what helped the artist to work through a feeling of emotional emptiness/void. By making this manifestation collective, through an album or exhibition, the artists offer the viewer an experience which they might in turn feed off.

Aljoscha Tschaidse’s practice can be compared to the introductory words of a song by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. The title of the song; Yes! I am a Long Way From Home – can be interpreted in two ways: a nostalgic Heimweh (Homesickness) or a liberational runaway expression. Tschaidse`s work sits right in between these two readings, between the recent past and the near future.

The song begins with a spoken words recording of a monologue passage from a Bergen Student Newspaper, referring to when Mogwai played a show in 1997, describing the band’s music as “bigger than words and wider than pictures” and that “music can put a human being in a trance like state and deprive it of the sneaking feeling of existing”. Tschaidse`s paintings aspire to these conditions of total loss of orientation, presenting experiences through images and references.

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163cm x 223cm


Oil on canvas, glas, pvc, jeans, T-Shirt, aluminum, mesh

Untitled


143cm x 223cm


Oil on canvas, Glas, pvc, T-Shirt, pullover, aluminum, mesh

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63cm x 103cm


Oil on canvas, glas, paper, pvc, aluminum, mesh

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36cm x 36cm


Oil on canvas

(Untitled) sculpture
Concrete, steel, wood, sheet metal, anchor, wire, glas frame, poster, digital print.