Sanning och konsekvens : En studie av den estetiska intentionen hos tre verk av Felix Gmelin

Sammanfattning: You could say that the Swedish artist Felix Gmelin in his art uses media to get closer or further away from what we consider to be the reality and also truth. The purpose of this study is to discuss what this means for the intention of his art works. The starting point is my own aesthetic experience of his painting and the installations A Gentleman’s agreement (1996), Farbtest, Die Rothe Fahne II (2003) and Tools and Grammar 2.5 (2007). Each of these works of art consists of different kinds of prefabricated material such as articles, films and documents. These kinds of material are often considered to stand in the way of the aesthetic experience, maybe because they are supposed to be closer to reality and therefore to truth. The thesis of this study is that the truth in art is inscribed in the aesthetic framework of each art piece and also in the technical support it uses. If for example the support consists of an investigative journalist’s documentary research, in Rosalind Krauss’ description, the truth might be found in the authenticity of the documentary material. If the technical support has to do with sampling instead, as in the re-use of existing materials to create new works of art, the truth can probably not be found in the different pieces of material but in the work ofart in itself. It does not matter then if the different pieces of material it consists of is traditionally considered unaesthetic. The conclusion of this study is that Gmelin’s Gentleman’s agreement, Farbtest, Die Rothe Fahne II and Tools and Grammar 2.5 actually discuss what truth is and if there is an aesthetic truth.