Like Balthus before him, Gunter Langer takes nubile girls as his subject-matter. Unlike Balthus, Langer’s drawings and mixed-media paintings take their cue from fashion and design more than classical works of art. Langer’s works are both sensual and playful. The women he depicts often adopt the seemingly casual yet often uncomfortable poses found in fashion magazines; and his men are equally distinguished by being forever en vogue.
What stands out against the variety of Langer’s techniques and the media he applies is his emphasis on the human figure, which he sometimes styles as a nude and sometimes in deshabille. His acrylic on paper work, Begegnung (a word which roughly translates into “encounter”), shows a young woman in a slip looking directly at the viewer. The work everywhere alludes to a designer’s sketch, with flecks of saffron-red embellishing the woman’s cheeks and knuckles. She also seems to be grabbing her left hand with her right thumb and forefinger, as though self-consciously. In light of this gesture, the title of the painting seems to unpack into a rendering of irrepressible sexual tension.
