art by FRANZ KLAINSEK at LIBERACIÓN
curated by VERONIKA KOLÉS

His work is a metaphor for life itself. When you are present with his work, an empowering feeling of realness overcomes you; that truth which he expresses through equal parts of pain and love stands in its glory and we not only see it but feel it ourselves deep inside. Like a poem: a tragedy of death to the feelings we had before and rebirth to the new life within us – a Rebirth to something that we had already always knew existed: a Universal Truth, perhaps, or maybe just a reflection of self.

Franz’s work regularly reminds us of the impermanence of all existence, and the power of letting go. He speaks of the subconscious mind and society’s effects on it. In his Mortal sculptures, he uses acids to create an effect of aging and we are present to our own mortality. Through Presence, he tells us of the importance of being in the now as we experience ourselves within these massive installations that triumph over our senses.  His work often challenges his own endurance as he pushes his body and mind to the limits. He creates inspired by his own experience and expresses his own evolution, learning, growing through his work, and with his work. Observing the process, the creation itself, his work allows the viewer to reflect and connect to the aspects of themselves that they might have not discovered before.

In Mexico City, on the streets of the prestigious La Roma Neighborhood, yet again, Franz Klainsek had pushed the physical, mental, and poetic aspects of his creation to the maximum. He took a historic building that housed a revolutionary party and broke free from his fears.

Room by room, Franz journeyed into his creation with courage and understanding of all, and nothing, leaving us with a piece of immersive art that brings out the darkness in such a profound way that we see the light of freedom when we leave his exhibition. The darkness that meets light in a perfect dance of Truth: the acceptance of what is, what was, and what forever will be.

“LIBERACIÓN” Monumental Exhibition, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.

Spirit & Flesh: I understand that the scope of your LIBERACIÓN project involves not just the work itself, but also transforming a whole building, experiencing it as a canvas?

Franz Klainsek: Yes. With LIBERACIÓN the first time in my artistic life, I had complete freedom to do and create whatever my soul desired. I have come close to that with a blank piece of copper, a blank space for installation, or a blank canvas, but here I had complete freedom to experience and present my work exactly how I wanted to — all 15,000 square feet of it.

S&F: You called the project “LIBERACIÓN”, why?

FK: There’s a lot of layers to it. Like all things in life, this project evolved and took shape until I found my deepest truth of what it meant to me and how I wanted to express those feelings. It started with the concept of fear, specifically the use of power to control people through fear throughout history. Then, it started taking a deeper evolution of what does fear look like for me. I started working with the fears that I faced in the past, being brutally honest with myself with the fears I was facing in the right now; what is the process in being conscious, aware of recognizing a certain fear and then being able to ultimately let go of it, transform it, use it, find Liberation from it.

“LIBERACIÓN” Grand Room, Installation View, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.

S&F: Your installation “What Comes Next” clearly is referring to the fear of death. Is it the fear of your own death or of losing someone?

FK: Both. I believe there is a fear of dying that we all have at some level. I was brought up Catholic. I was brought up to believe that there was a certain something that happened after we died that I did not fully believe. Recognizing the work that I have done to understand what happens afterward, brought me more ease and an opportunity to release that fear. Also, being able to release that fear of when others passed. I am going through it right now, (Franz Klainsek’s beloved Godmother and aunt Pilar was in critical condition at the time of the interview, and passed away shortly after) but I do feel that it is easier now for me to be able to deal with the passing of loved ones, for my ability to connect with what happens after this life.

“INFINITY ROOM” Installation, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.

“MULTIDIMENSIONAL BEING” Axe on Rotating Copper Sculpture on Chain Installation, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.
79 x 34 x 4 inches

S&F: Did it happen before you embarked on your project at LIBERACIÓN and your self-expression of using the building as the canvas?

FK: This experience happened many years ago… but from your question of the fears I worked with. That was one – it was a big one. I think we are all facing, I am facing particular fears that perhaps you are not facing, but there is another big fear that I was presented with that I worked through and I continue to work through. And it is the fear of being understanding, respecting and diving in the powers that we have as humans on this planet. I think there is a great fear of being in the fullest deepest essence of power, because it is also very scary to understand how much power we have and essentially it makes us responsible for our life, which I believe we are in every aspect. That was another big fear that was presented to me with that. I worked with that and released that, and continued to drive the other muscle of being in the space of presence, working moment to moment, doing things with great intention. That was a powerful one, for sure.

“WHAT COMES NEXT” Breaking Ground Installation, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.

S&F: I wonder if every day, every month, every year, you come closer to feeling comfortable or in-tuned with your true power.

FK: I think about all the times when I was so close to that power, and then there were moments soon after where I was gasping for air, reaching back for that understanding. And this has happened dozens of times throughout the years. I feel ok, I have arrived at this space: I understand it, I feel it, I am able to put action to it, but yet all of a sudden, I am back at feeling that all the pieces are broken and I am so distant from it. I feel that I want to have that space and be in that space all the time. It is so strong, but I am now starting to understand that might not necessarily be life. Life in its ups and downs, it’s not so black and white – there is a grey area to it. But essentially what’s most important here is to be conscious of everything that is going on. Allow it to flow and ride, and through your abilities bring yourself back to your center, as best as you can.

S&F: How many of the rooms in the building did you recreate?

FK: There are several installations, there are 7 rooms, all independent, all different, yet they are all connected.

S&F: What is the intention of the overall space?

FK: The intention was to be as raw, real and true to where I found myself in my evolution and how I wanted to express and create from that truth.

S&F: For people to understand, how can we describe the difference between what your mind wanted, your ego wanted, and what your heart and your soul wanted?

“FREED BY WILLPOWER” 18′ Breaking Ground Installation Connecting all 3 floors, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.

FK: I am able to separate. I always go back to what I am feeling. That’s why bringing a physicality to the work that puts me in my body was important. Having an axe in my hand: a weapon, would take me out of my mind and right into my body. Essentially, the fight is to continue bringing myself into my body, into feeling, into my heart space, continuously separating from the mind. So one of the elements of that is the physicality of that – working with the axe, consciously making a decision between mind and the body. Thinking of the realness of everything: of who I am as a man, who I am as a son, as a brother, as a friend; being in the truth of the space, and not intellectualizing, but bringing it to a heart level. It is not always easy – we have resistance, the truth a lot of times is hard. In that room of nails, I was in my realness: I cried, I danced, I screamed, I laughed. The mind wants to be in a different place all the time: “I don’t want to cry right now” and tries to bring resistance to the space of where you truly are. And your instrument gets blocked — you are not flowing in realness. It is allowing myself to experience those things without judgment, with freedom and liberation. It’s ok – that’s where you are right now, and that’s what is needed for the evolution of yourself; for your instrument to be released; and just to be with it. To allow it to Be in all its beauty! And that’s is what is truly being in love with the process. It is all beautiful: It is not just the final element, or in those moments where creation and creativity is just flowing through the roof and you are brilliant! But it is those moments of doubt and uncertainty and everything else that you fight through. All that is beautiful as well. And accepting that and being with that and just flowing with that, is most beautiful of it all. If we only look at life as beautiful in those pinnacle moments of when you are feeling great, then your whole life passes you by. Because that’s probably going to be 5% of your entire life. Life has all these other values: ups and downs, and all these things in between. It is all life: and if you truly love and appreciate life, then you are going to be with it all.

I kept reminding myself of that. This is a process, this is life. These moments when you want to quit, and I throw my f**king hammer: Why am I doing this? This is so hard…. working through that and rising again and grabbing my hammer again and being in strength and continuing to go… you know it’s all beautiful. The comfortability, the uncomfortability… All of it.

left:
“DON’T BE AFRAID” Axe on Copper Wall Sculpture on Chain Installation, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.
right:
“FREED BY WILLPOWER” 18′ Breaking Ground Installation Connecting all 3 floors, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.

S&F: Did this ever make you feel compassion or sadness that this is just what that is?

FK: It is easy to say, I am liberated: ¡Liberacion!, but bullshit, what does it mean to be liberated, what does it take to be free: it is a lot of f**king work, it’s a lot of suffering.
It is so easy to not be present. What I have found in my shift, and in which this project helped me a lot is also understanding of what keeps us from not wanting to be present. Why do we want to escape? We gotta keep digging, we gotta keep digging for the roots, and pull those roots from the ground; otherwise, we are just going in circles.

“SOUL ON FIRE” Copper, oil, pigment, volcanic rock on burned canvas.
78 x 164 inches – 198 x 41 cm

S&F: Did you have any expectations from the results of your creation and have you met those expectations? Are you ok and at peace with yourself?

FK: My barometer for success was in how true I was to what I was feeling. I found ultimate freedom in this creation; I truly fell in love with the process and everything in-between. With all my creations, my focus is transcending speaking about things, and truly being about those things. At LIBERACIÓN, I was able to arrive in a space being a more liberated artist and man.

“THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN” Interactive Installation, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.

“UNTOLD STORIES” Installation, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.

S&F: What is next for you after the LIBERACIÓN exhibition is finished?

FK: At some point I am going to work on one of the greatest lessons that we can work with and that is in the art of being able to let go. I am going to tear this building down, with honor and respect to what has been; but also bringing forth a new evolution of what is to come.

Franz Klainsek in the process of creation of a Nail Painting.

S&F: The building is going to be destroyed, or just the exhibition is going to be destroyed?

FK: The entire building is going to be destroyed, and that is going to be it for this moment in time: for the history that the building had; and for the history that was introduced. Essentially, we all have to let go to find liberation.

“CUARTO DE LOS CLAVOS” Installation Room of Nail Paintings, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.

S&F: When you say let go what do you mean by that?

FK: You have to let go of the next moment, of next month, of next year. You stay connected with the right now accepting anything and everything. Obviously much easier said than done but this understanding is what I stay connected with; you have to let go so that the magic can happen. You did not imagine your current reality so you start freaking out because you are like: “shit, this is something completely different than what I imagined for myself.” But you are still going to get to where you’ve dream of, you have to trust and you have to let go of control, and just stay strong with the intention of what you’re doing and what you ultimately want to bring forth; But it is not going to be how you imagined in your mind. It Never is!

S&F: Is it Better than you imagined?

FK: Yeah, it is better because you are going to be a lot more resilient than you ever imagined. It is going to be a lot tougher than you ever imagined. You are going to have to pick yourself up many more times than you ever imagined. And when you get to the other side, yeah – it is going to feel damn good to be so strong and that you were unstoppable in your pursuit. In the letting go, we also allow for more unexpected beauty to arise. We want to let go! We have to let go! The control does not allow for the magic to take place. So if we want something to come forth in our life a little quicker, we have to learn those lessons as well, because it does not have to be that hard either. There is always magic right around the corner. It’s just we are keeping ourselves from experiencing it.

“BORN INTO CHAINS” Performance by Franz Klainsek.

LIBERACIÓN Continues to stand strong, inspiriting through an unwavering message of Freedom that Franz Klainsek engraved within the walls of the building with a haze of vibrant light. We can now explore the exhibition Virtually at Liberacion.art

“FLUID” Axe on Copper Wall Sculpture on Chain Installation, Franz Klainsek 2019-2020.
79 x 34 x 2 inches

“UTOPIA” Breaking Ground Installation, Franz Klainsek, 2019-2020.

To continue engaging with Franz Klainsek’s artistic process we can follow him at @franzklainsek

Franz Klainsek Portrait inside “THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN” Installation was taken by MEMO MATTHEWS

All Images are Franz Klainsek Copyright, All Rights Reserved.