Through his large-scale, hyper-realistic oil paintings, German artist Anton Hoeger seamlessly reconciles our past and present through his interpretation of an imaginary future. Hoeger’s subjects are at once indiscriminate of gender and imbued with both physical and emotional agency over their often-dystopian surroundings. In this, the artist seeks to establish a new reality, one that brings the conscious and unconscious mind closer to understanding our present global civilization.
In works such as Stickfighter (2017), a woman stands upon a precipice surrounded by an indeterminate blue background, clothed in nearly primitive, geometric strips of white fabric. She dons warrior headgear, and, wielding a combat rod, she crouches, her feet turned outwards in opposite directions. Her svelte muscles flex, and her angular countenance fixates on an exterior focal point, her gaze set in stoic, concentrated fortitude. The floor of the precipice cracks beneath her feet, yet this woman does not waver. Her statuesque form and intense, unswerving concentration bring new life to the realist painting style, thus allowing the viewer to consider the humanity’s potential to exercise inner strength and fearlessness.
