Go climb a hill
maybe a mountain 
google says 
dead end track

surprise!

a rock ridge 
easy to scramble

then

wild cretan mountainside
bushes rocks
sheep tiptoe’s meandering
to where the sky takes over

downhill stumble
to flower meadow
power to colour

us

just sitting listening
to the wind moaning

our cretan phantasies 
thus satisfied

Another exhibition venue. This time at a recently developed housing area in Vienna (Sonnwendviertel) at the so called “Graetzelmixer”, roughly translated “neighbourhood mixer”. This is a wonderfully large space for all kinds of events. The NoTopo exhibition was up for two days and very well visited, considering it being just a small show. 

What was most surprising was that a table containing a number of personal sketchbooks seemed to be the magnet for all visitors. Maybe this has something to do with the sterility of our digital world, where we are getting bored looking at pictures on a screen. Paging through a booklet is something haptic and thus a very analog experience. Also maybe a low-threshold means of perceiving art. In the sense of: “Maybe worth having a go at sketching myself, some of the stuff seems really simple”. 

It was fun exhibiting, a really open and pleasant atmosphere with much discussion and good talks. 

Von meinem iPad gesendet

Pics: Peter Stoeckl, Christine Gobi, Sandra Oberzaucher, Michael Freund and most probably other friends who kindly sent me some fotos. Unfortunately I did not write down their names. Thank you anyway and sorry for the confusion! Thanks also to the society operating the graetzelmixer and especially Tatia for giving me the opportunity to exhibit and the great task of helping me running the show. Also thank you to my wife Krista helping at the exhibition and preparation.

NoTopo is the style Krista and I climb and scramble in Crete. Seen from an artists perspective it could be our interpretation of Hamish Fultons „Walking Journey“ , where the experience of walking is an art form in itself. We feel the same about the thrill of exploring and discovering so far unclimbed wild rock country. We leave no traces and give no clues. Therefor: NoTopo, no route descriptions, the rocks we climb have no name. 

But we tell the story with objects, collages of fotos and sketches and drawings. These are the visual interpretation of our doings and emotions. Again they do not allow any give away details. I have set up a small pop up exhibition which I can put up and dismantle anywhere in short time. 

The following pics show the first exhibition at the Österreichische Alpenklub. This Society is the counterpart to the British Alpine Club, not to be mistaken by the Austrian Alpenverein.

After 6 years Krista plucked up all her courage and climbed with me again
in Crete. She had to overcome the trauma she had after my bad fall in Crete 2017 when she had to bring me to hospital in Chania and then get me back to Austria (whereby my son James Kristian did much of the organising) That was quite an epic, because we where somewhere in the wilds and there is no mountain rescue. 
So this October we where in Crete again and discovered a new “playground” for our pioneering ambitions. My agreement with Krista was to climb only easy routes, max. grade 3 UIAA. To confirm this aim was that we only climb in approach shoes, not in rock climbing rubbers. So what we accomplished was really advanced scrambling. But we roped up, because we just feel more comfortable on the rope entering new terrain and you just don’t know what awaits you. I also took along a set of Camalots and some chocks for the belays and the occasional runner. 
We managed to climb quite a few short routes and one 6 or 7 short pitches long. 
Thus we continue the NoTopo idea. We left no traces and will not publish any details. 

 
Like a child, I love to collect interesting pebbles from beaches, stones with sculptural shapes, strangely twisted roots, bones bleached by the sun and even rusty cans. Mainly in the wild canyons and scree slopes in the Cretan mountains.
They are sculptures created by nature. 
These were the sources of inspiration for many artists especially Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore of the late twentieth century.
For me they mean more than inspiration, not wanting to transform or intervene.
Their being is the ultimate aesthetic statement.
You just need to be a kind of “curator” to decide what is worth exhibiting and how to present your choice.
But how do you give your found objects meaning?
According to Marcel Duchamp, at the beginning of the twentieth century, you can give any mundane object meaning, by placing it on a pedestal, thus metaphorically “spotlighting” it. 

I have collected certain objects that are very meaningful to me aesthetically as well as relational to the location during my Notopo climbing explorations in Crete. For me they have – if not a mystical – then at least an emotional quality. They are my Totems, displaying my connectedness to the wild Cretan hills. So I am experimenting with the idea of combining mystical nature religion with the Christian altar design of medieval times. Thus placing the found objects in a shrine setting as a statement for the power of creation. 

I‘m experimenting with a new way to experience being outdoors. Especially being in the mountains and the woods. It’s the attempt to combine my physical and aesthetic perception. I go for a run and when I see something worth sketching, or a scene that attracts my attention I stop and make a few marks in my small sketchpad which I carry with me in a rucksack. Along with a small paintbox and tiny water bottle. Also three brushes. The sketch should not take longer than 5 minutes, though unpacking, packing and also the paint drying sometimes forces me to wait a bit longer. The next investment will be in a small cable less hairdryer. Some sketches are really poor, some a disaster and some ok. But often I do some improving at home, using a foto on my mobile. Important in the original sketch are the outlines and choosing the subject.

My runs are always small projects. I used to run ultra long distance (100km, 24 hours etc.), but due to a leg injury running is limited to uphill running and only short distances for which I use ski poles for aid. The following examples are runs up to 6km in the Vienna Woods.

To compare the „quality“ of my sketches I am showing the „on sight“ sketch and the „pimped up“ sketch (at home).
It’s a kind of Biathlon (Nordic Skiing). Running and stopping to shoot with a rifle at a target. Having to reduce your puls rate in able to aim, in this case draw/paint. The difference being that you don’t shoot with a gun, but only take a snap shot with a brush.

Run Cobenzl Sievering. (on sight sketches)

Run Anninger, Priesnitztal via Breite Föhre to Mödling (on sight sketches and pimped)

Krista und ich bekrabbelten zuletzt im NoTop Stil, dh. wild wie die dortigen Ziegen, die Hügelfelsberge Südwestkretas. Sketches teilweise mit fliegendem Atem, dann daheim im Hotel fertig gestellt. Manche davon vorerst mit Bleistift ausgeführt, beschrieben und Szene mit Handy fotografiert als Farbreferenz.

ist immer auf der Suche nach der Route mit dem gewissen Kick, um seinen Drang zum Vertikalen auszuleben und grenzenlose Freiheit in luftigen Höhen zu genießen. (Textcollage aus Werbetexten).

Speedy scribbles with chalk

Art is the way you perceive the world.

Kunst ist wie man die Welt wahrnimmt.

Stuff I found in Crete.

Zeug, das ich in Kreta fand.