Maximilian Prüfer & Focus On: Clément Bedel

Maximilian Prüfer
Nebenlinien

Focus On
Clément Bedel

Maximilian Prüfer
Nebenlinien
15 Jahre Naturantypie

Maximilian Prüfer’s practice predominantly involves the exploration of natural processes and their transference to the visual image. Within this, Prüfer examines a range of existential, philosophical and political subjects in relation to evolution, humanity’s manipulation of and ultimate interdependence with the natural ecosystem, contravening the human cultural paradigm of separation from natural phenomena. One element of Prüfer’s practice where the expression of this analysis is salient lies within his unique representation technique recording the movements and conduct of insects that he has denominated Naturantypie. Through this methodological process, the very fine coating of the paper is displaced by the movement, creating an aesthetic that widens the concept of drawing independent of traditional tools. These works depict the most fundamental and instinctual forms of behaviour, including the impulse to survive and the economical employment of energy. However, this instinctual process is simultaneously manipulated by the artist by way of additional interpositions using barriers, scent, bait and light sources appropriate to the stimulus of each insect to manipulate the traces they leave behind. The works thus encapsulate an evolutionary process which continues and adapts despite the interference of humanity.

Focus On
Clément Bedel

Bedel creates hybrid compositions that capture suspended moments between collapse and rebirth. His vibrant, incisive works depict a world in flux, where the resilience of nature challenges the notion of extinction. Streams of intense colour, often symbolic of pollution, merge with plants, trees, and brutalist structures caught in perpetual transformation. These multi-metabolic scenes disrupt conventional notions of linear time, resonating with Timothy Morton’s concept of hyper-objects - entities so vast in scale and duration that they elude ordinary perception.

Clément Bedel (b. 1993, Strasbourg) is a French painter based in Vienna, Austria. After completing a Master’s degree in 2017 at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Nancy, where he studied under Nina Childress, he went on to continue his training at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, where he lived and worked from 2016 to 2020. Recent solo exhibitions include WUK, Vienna (2024); Eisenwerk Frauenfeld, Switzerland (2023); Galerie Hestia, Belgrade (2023) and Galerie Hestia, Belgrade (2023). Bedel has participated in numerous group exhibitions across France, Germany, and Serbia, and has undertaken residencies in Istanbul (2020) and Leipzig (2019).