#i missed drawing kdj....

[solcarow]

,

#happy birthday freak #u better b greatful i didnt miss it for the 3rd year in a row #kim dokja #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #omniscient reader’s viewpoint #my art #solar-drawss #i was gonna hand draw the bg but i . couldnt finish that in 2 days so its just a stock photo filtered to hell and back #didnt turn out all that bad atleast ! #kinda wish i made it clearer that hes running tho #and i think tumblr severely fucked up the quality as per usual #really wanted to make kdj the clearest and the train all pixelly but idk if it ended up looking right #its fine i had to rush it in 2 days #just dont look to closely at Anything #i missed drawing kdj....

[localapparently]

useless child

#ACK. i miss gilyoung. lee gilyounggg.. i missed him. so i drew him. next time i'll draw him happy. #i have a lot of thoughts about him #i love him dearly #orv #omniscient readers viewpoint #omniscient reader #omniscient reader fanart #orv fanart #kim dokja #kdj #lee gilyoung #lgy #crit's art: orv

[everyones-least-favorite-bard]

only a man

made a fake poster while playing w texture brushes lmao

#oh unsettling kim dokja how i missed you #orv #omniscient reader #omniscient reader's viewpoint #kdj #kim dokja #bard draws #cw eye contact #tw eye contact #cw eyestrain #tw eyestrain

[7clubs]

yhkissing 👍

#orv #omniscient reader #omniscient reader's viewpoint #yoohankim #yhk #kim dokja #kdj #han sooyoung #hsy #yoo joonghyuk #yjh #punisher #hankim #doksoo #joongdok #yoohan #partly an excuse to draw punisher. i missed her <33 #she has the range..... #jan 2024 #2024 #doksoo here is specifically a First kiss. the other two are just their more typical kiss i guess #but also their first kisses were probably like that too. just w/ yjh before she figured out her gender lol

[feuxx]

Happy birthday kim dokja!! 🌻🎉

#orv #kdj #kim dokja #orv fanart #ill draw u properly one day king but tonight it is fumes and months of hard artblock #feuxx art #i missed his borth last year and i was so devastated so im getting it this year!!!!!

[clflowerrr]

Kim Dokja sketch :'>

I am very thankful to liquify pen 🤧

#i cant draw wings #i'm not a patient person for details #and it's just a sketch bc i havent done it in a while #kim dokja #i miss u man #omniscient reader's viewpoint #demon king of salvation #orv kdj

[ror-art]

But you can dream of me and I will let you know that I am fine here

i have sooo many lyrical comic wips i gotta just start drawing out my fav panels and posting them lol

[ID: A 2 panel lyrical comic of Phemiec's "Finally I've Flown" featuring Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint. The first panel is KDJ in his deamon king form heavily bleeding. He is smiling and his hand is gently laying on YJH's who is grabbing his lapels with only his hands visible. "And if you miss me let me go" is written on it. The second panel is YJH cradling KDJ who is dead in his arms. YJH is looking up and ahead with rage while crying. They are both covered in blood. "You can kiss me but my body will eventually grow cold" is written on it. /end ID]

#omniscient reader's viewpoint #omniscient reader #yoo joonghyuk #kim dokja #dokhyuk #joongdok #ORV #lyrical comic #comic

[demonlikejudgeoffire]

The thing about the 'Ugliest King' title and All The Ensuing Conversations that occur as a result, is that it works in the wn because we, the readers, have Absolutely No Idea what Kim Dokja looks like. Yes, there's the picture on the description page of the cover, but wn readers are trained to ignore those. Cover art is guidance for a character but when most of the cast will never wind up being pictured, you draw your grasp of their appearance based on description in-book and how the other characters describe their looks.

Even without KDJ's famous soliloquy in JTTW about YJH's appearance, we know that he's handsome and fit. We know that HSY is pretty but most of the time she has her face pulled into exaggerated expressions that make you instantly forget that. We know what kind of clothes the characters wear, whether other people think they're attractive, and how they're perceived generally. So, what does the reader get told about Kim Dokja?

Kim Dokja describes himself as average. He used to take bathroom selfies, but he's not particularly good looking. And the book plays into that! He's assigned 'Ugliest King' and it's partly a joke but partly to tell us something. Kim Dokja isn't your stereotypical secretly-handsome MC. As the book unfolds, we learn that there's a reason why people think he's ugly, but even beyond that specific metatextual one, there's more. We learn that towards the end of the novel, he's become more tanned and healthy-looking. We're told that at the beginning of the novel, his skin was pasty from a lack of sunlight. He was skinny from a diet of what he could afford at the corner store. He likely had dark circles from staying up late. These are all things that help us to develop a picture of Kim Dokja as a person. Even beyond that, the question of whether Kim Dokja is actually ugly was a debate that I miss having, mostly because I think SS were trying to show that you don't need to be handsome to be loved.

There's a lot that I don't agree with the webtoon team on, and I won't go into that here, but I would argue that possibly the worst thing they did for ORV was make Kim Dokja look like every other secretly-handsome MC. How can the reader grapple with him being given the ugliest king title when they can plainly see in every chapter that he's been drawn with bishie sparkles in the horniest way possible? It breaks immersion and squanders the value of the discussion to be had by its inclusion in the novel.

Tldr; kdj should be drawn swagless assless and looking like a mess.

#orv #opalrambles

[sscarletvenus]

some lookism childhood headcanons 

i imagine hyungseok as one of those really cute kids that resemble marshmallows. he's just so soft and round and giggles when you pick him up and spin him around!!! his mom would take him to work with her and her coworkers would give him all sorts of snacks and pocket money. he's like a bouncing ball of pure sunshine.

johan as a kid would be extremely intrigued with religious imagery. he would often try to memorise the architecture of the church his mother takes him to, and then try to draw them when he's bored. 

i also imagine that johan's an amazing artist, and the god dog logo is his own design. when he was small, johan would always want to participate in art competitions, but art supplies are a luxury so he gives up on that desire pretty fast. he conveys the same to his mom, who praises him for being a sensible child as johan sniffles on her shoulder against a tattered cardigan that smells like home.

samuel was always too little for his age, and never managed to eat until he was full. either his mom would scream at him for being within her sight for too long, or he would lose his appetite seeing her face. 

he watches his mom's TV soaps from a corner and sees everyone being nice to the handsome and capable male lead, and starts believing that people only care for what they cannot have. so, he too, will become someone unattainable by everyone.

samuel is too angry for someone that scrawny, so the seniors always beat him to pulp. but, he never cries. instead, if the other boys would listen closely, they would hear him mutter under his breath, "i am gapryong kim…" (yes this is about kdj telling himself that he's yjh from orv)

jake as a kid is very easy to please. he's like a porcelain doll that you have to poke in order to get a reaction, but once he knows you, he clings and never lets go. 

teen jake is almost a carbon copy of young gapryong, but when he smiles, he looks exactly like his mom. but, years of living with his dad make his smiles dim in frequency, so the resemblance goes unnoticed. 

growing up, jake would probably hate mirrors as he is reminded of how much his appearance starts resembling his dad's, when he looks into one. his relationship with his mom grows strained because he doesn't want her to be in pain when she is inevitably reminded of gapryong when she looks at him, so he always tries to disappear from her sight, and eventually runs away from home, not knowing his future in a gang where, in order to be with those his loves, he must become inseparable from his dad's violence.

zack is a typical rich kid who always gets what he wants. he is very into superhero movies and comics, and is an idealist who takes inspiration from his favourite characters. he too wishes to save his friends and protect his love just like the figures wearing flowing capes on the screen, drawn on the pages of his books. 

vasco is also into action-comics and superheroes, but he is the one who wants to be “saved.” like he looks at his mom struggle financially and emotionally as a single-parent and wonders what a saviour would look like, when they would arrive. (i think one of the many reasons he becomes breakdak's student is because he feels he is accompanying an invincible force that can guide him in his path to save others, and thus, save himself.) 

vasco’s morality also stems from the absolute goodness of heroes, where he is a stickler for reform within the boundaries of pre-established rules and codes of moral conduct.

jace as a kid is a nightmare. u know they say that kids are blunt but jace takes it to a whole another level. you CANNOT lie to him, in front of him, about him because he WILL expose your lies. his analysis goes crazy and adults are a bit scared of him. santa? “i know it’s you, dad.” “H-HOW???” “i just know. also you left the house at 8 in the evening and returned with exactly 5000 won missing from your wallet. The price of chocolate-” “OKAY. OKAY. STOP. JESUS”

goo’s weird and off-putting vibes have accompanied him from the womb. he mutilated insects by plucking out their wings and trapping them under glasses before torturing them in “the fly : short story by katherine mansfield” style. there isn’t much to say except he probably committed arson before reaching the age of twelve.

gun is the gojo satoru of lookism like the balance in the yakuza was shifted after his birth. yes the power he inherits is a burden to him but he loves having the burden and being the sole one to possess it.

he feels no genuine emotions or connections to anyone at all, as if he and the world around him are separated by an impenetrable wall, the strong existing on the pinnacle of a lonely mountain towering over the weak. 

the only emotion that gets to him is the sense of pure ecstasy he feels during fights, the thrill of fighting just for the sake of it, the enjoyment of enacting violence unto his enemies bcz he knows he is at the top (on heaven and earth, i alone am the honoured one)

that’s it for now!!! hope that clears my brainrot amen.

#lookism #lookism webtoon #lookism manhwa #jake kim #kim gimyung #park jonggun #gun park #gun lookism #samuel seo #seo seongeun #daniel park #park hyungseok #goo kim #kim jungoo #goo lookism #zack lookism #zack lee #lee jinsung #lee euntae #vasco lookism #lookism jace #jace park #park bumjae #seong yohan #yohan lookism #johan seong #johan lookism #daniel lookism #park hyungseok lookism #eli jang

[randomgarbagecan]

ORV Fic Rec I

so i have read my fair share of orv fics and i’ve been thinking it’s time to share my favorites out to the world. not sure how many of these i’ll make, but i thought i’d keep it short and sweet and list out just a few of my favorites if anyone wants to give them a read.

No Pairing/Gen:

Home Invasion - misoriri

Rating: G Word Count: 3,178 Chapters: 1/1

Kim Dokja’s covers are flung back. He looks up to see Yoo Jonghyuk scowling at him, his blankets in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. He wishes it was a thief instead.

Kim Dokja gets sick.

Notes: does not take place during the scenarios, but contains no spoilers. It’s a super cute sickfic and i loved it. i read it a few times already haha.

here it’s safe and here it’s warm - Lizhly

Rating: G Word Count: 7,446 Chapters: 1/1

It hadn’t been a big deal, Kim Dokja had thought, when he started feeling a little under the weather. It’d just been a sneeze. A cough. Maybe a bit of a runny nose. It still wasn’t a big deal when he’d gotten the fever later. These things happen. It’s not like he’s spent how-ever-many years taking care of himself and somehow never run into a cold. He’s made it work, dragged himself to work, and has done so multiple times over the course of his life. Shocker of shockers, he’s never died even once throughout this entire process. He can take care of himself.

Kim Dokja’s Company doesn’t seem to think so. Notes: post-canon/post-epilogue fic. beware of spoilers. another sickfic... ok but listen, i live for any type of hurt/comfort found family trope, although there’s not really any hurt, mainly just fluff and comfort.

conversation in a lull in the war - stuffandsundry

Rating: T Word Count: 1,175 Chapters: 1/1 The Great War of Saints and Demons is slowly getting started. Sooyoung and Joonghyuk talk, as they wait. Notes: canon compliant, spoilers up to the Great War of Saints and Demons arc (i believe ch 387?). SO good tho. i love this fic, it gives insight on yjh and hsy’s relationship and ugh, it’s a good read. pls try it

Kim Dokja/Yoo Joonghyuk

Waiting for These Eyes to Open - KatcadeCascade (DreamWings231)

Rating: G Word Count: 2,004 Chapters: 1/1 He finds himself reaching the 73rd Demon Realm with an archangel, taking ownership of an industrial complex in Kim Dokja’s name, and confronting Asmodeus.

Yoo Jonghyuk could not see himself ever doing this for anyone, mostly because no one else would get in this much trouble. But for some reason he did this all.

All to see Kim Dokja again.

And that rat bastard is sleeping.

This is all exhausting to think. Thankfully, there’s a chair nearby.

Notes: spoilers up to ch 226, canon compliant, missing scene. fuck i love this one, it’s just. hh. kdj/yjh pairing makes me go insane.

precipice - oronine

Rating: T Word Count: 4,871 Chapters: 1/1

“I want to kill them.”

Yoo Joonghyuk looks tired. His sword is drawn but unable to draw a line in the soil. In this world, he is the most powerless being. “I hate them.”

Kim Dokja is sprawled on the ground, head in his hands. There are footprints and blood all over his shirt and the ground; he wishes he could meld with the grass and never wake up. “I hate them too.”

Trapped in a scenario, Kim Dokja is forced to relive his past with an uninvited guest. Notes: please do read the tags for this one. the romantic relationship isn’t the main focus, but wow is this such a gut-wrenching read. it hurts so good.

the pros & cons of caramel - sunwarmed

Rating: G Word Count: 5,398 Chapters: 1/1 “What’s in this,” Yoo Joonghyuk demands.

“Peruvian dark roast.” Yoo Joonghyuk looks as if he’s about to commit a crime, so Dokja takes pity on him and continues, “And sugar, ice, whipped cream, cookie crumbles, caramel, hazelnut syrup, chocolate, and a little bit of almond milk. Really, I put a ton of work into making this, and you’re not even thanking me.”

Yoo Joonghyuk’s eye twitches — once, twice, three times — before he takes the cup and squeezes it so hard Dokja’s a little afraid the drink will fly everywhere

.[or: 5 times kim dokja makes yoo joonghyuk (the wrong) coffee & one time yoo joonghyuk returns the favor.] Notes: coffee shop AU. holy shit this fic lives in my mind rent free. i think about it all of the time. it’s just. they are idiots and it’s so cute.

I certainly have MUCH MORE bookmarks than these saved, but i figured i’d start off with just a handful and see how it goes. if you have any fics you’d recommend OR if you have any fic rec requests, my ask box is always open ;)

#orv fic recs #fic rec #orv #garbage talks

[unexpectedgeese]

I think that ORV’s time travel mechanics are really cool- especially when you look at all the layers to them.

So the basic gist of it is that they DON’T explain it- as characters move from timeline to timeline, things get so complicated that SS just gives up on explaining it. Since it’s in a book, they reason, everything is happening all at once. And That’s so cool! Like, the whole thing is already written, so everything is happening at once if you think about it. Hell, it even ties back into film theory- which makes sense, since film theory is meant to explain time travel.

And that’s such a cool way to look at it, because it really reinforces the themes of the story. The relationship between author, reader, and protagonist, for example. The story is balanced in such a way that if any of those three were missing, the WHOLE THING would have never happened. If there’s no author, Kdj never reads WoS , it never becomes real, and there’s no reason for the author to write the story. If there’s no reader, The story never becomes real, there’s nothing to draw the story from. It’s super cool!

#orv #orv spoilers #I'm totally gonna write more about this

[kimdokjas]

Hi! I saw your Dokja tag on the "bad comic book art" post and I was wondering what's bad about ORV? I don't think it or Dokja's badly drawn?? Am I missing something?

hi! omg i was wracking my brain trying to figure out when i could have possibly said this because i'm actually so obsessed with how the manhwa artist draws Kim Dokja it's unreal. like have you seen that waist and exposed ankles 👀

do you mean this one by any chance? SCREAMS i think i misread it as "drawing of the worst man you could possibly imagine" but like. affectionately you know? as in Kim Dokja is a rat but i love him with all my heart 😭❤

and to answer your question, i don't think there's anything bad about it! orv turned out to be literally the best piece of fiction i've ever read in my life (both the novel and the manhwa) and i never meant to imply that the art was badly drawn, i'm sorry! the art is actually some of the most engaging and dynamic i've seen and i think the artist really went off on drawing Kim Dokja in particular and i really respect that (and am thankful for it every day of my life 🙏)

thanks so much for the heads-up though because i wouldn't have realized that i misread that post otherwise! also just to let you know i edited that post to remove the KDJ tag since i really don't think it applies to him in the sense that the op meant!

#yuzensoniktornavida #ask

[nasykuching]

Hello! I've been asking around and having no answer as of now, and i think you might have the answer of my question?

umm a lot of the people been saying that Joonghyuk describing kim dokja appearances like his starry eyes, white cheeks, long eyelashes etc is it really happening in the novel?

I only read it once, plan to reread it again but since i was lured by the jd fandom to read the novel i always focus more on their interaction but i don't remember joonghyuk saying anything about kdj appearances, what i remember is when they in the demon realm the party member describe his appearances but not joonghyuk bcs he was unconsious at that time, so is it canon or fanon?

Some people been saying that it was canon, that i really might miss something from the novel 😅

Hello!!! My memory isnt the best but i hope i answer correctly

The novel itself only have two POVs, one from Dokja’s first POV and the other one 3rd POV when dokja isnt present. As far as i remember Joonghyuk never said it himself, but it’s described on the 3rd POV. The book mentioned Dokja’s skin is pale and white (his cheeks and hand), he has long eyelashes, and for the starry eyes i dont really remember it but the webtoon draw him with starry eyes on specific scene like when he talks to 41 SYS’s soul at underwold. The only time i remember Joonghyuk commented on Dokja’s appreance is that he’s too skinny.

Hope that answer your question!!

[everyones-least-favorite-bard]

there are three ways.

#going back to my eyestrain roots #oh neon colors i missed you #i missed you largely incomprehensible orv art #sighing. i love orv so much guys #kdj #kim dokja #orv #omniscient reader #omniscient readers viewpoint #eyestrain #cw eyestrain #tw eyestrain #bard draws

[7clubs]

hi... kim dokja sandwich ^_^

[ ID from alt: Dokja embracing and kissing Sooyoung passionately, while Joonghyuk presses fully against him from behind. Joonghyuk is smiling fondly at them while tugging Dokja's white shirt up. Dokja glances back at him with a smile as Sooyoung presses her tongue to his lips. Dokja has one hand carding through her hair while the other is squeezing her butt. Sooyoung has her eyes blissfully closed, hands gripping the back of Dokja's neck and shirt. ]

#yoohankim #i missed drawing them.. #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #omniscient reader #yoo joonghyuk #yjh #kim dokja #kdj #han sooyoung #hsy #joongdok #hankim #doksoo #march 2024 #2024

[ftnbooks-blog]

  It must have been in 1991 that i first encountered the publicatiions by Picaron editions. Among them was the Travel to Rome portfolio by Marc Mulders . On this specific item i wrote a blog some 2 years ago. Now it is time to devote a blog to another of their publications. The Jakob Gasteiger portfolio which was published in an edition of only 300 copies. It contains 8 special prints and certainly is one of the rarest of all Gasteiger publications and now finally for sale at www.ftn-books.com

  A rare and beautiful item and for those who do not know Gasteiger . here is an interview with him from 6 years ago to discover the man behind the artist:

  JAKOB GASTEIGER By Karlyn De Jongh April 2013

The analytical painting of Jakob Gasteiger (1953, Salzburg, Austria) centralizes the process and act of painting itself. Gasteiger lives and works in Vienna, Austria. KDJ: For this year’s 55th Venice Biennale, you will make a room covered completely with carbon paper. Why did you choose to make this particular statement? What do you want to say with it? Why create a Black room? JG: For twenty years I have worked with paper as well, carbon and tissue paper. Before the introduction of computers and printers, carbon paper was used for copying. What you see are, strictly speaking, industrially produced monochrome charcoal drawings. Tissue paper is being sold in many colors as wrapping paper for presents. I stick these papers on canvas or, for an exhibition, directly on the walls of a museum or gallery. They are environments, graphic rooms which temporarily can be walked in, and at the same time murals. The color pigments of the papers come off when I stick them on the walls and you get, although I don’t use any paint here, the impression of a painting. The ‘treated’ walls are not black, however, depending on the brand the colors of the papers come off differently. KDJ: In an interview for Personal Structures: Works and Dialogues (2003) you stated that your basic concept is the question: Where is the boundary between graphics and painting and between painting and sculpture.” Now 10 years later, can you give an answer to this question? Has your answer changed over the years? Have you been able to extend these boundaries? Which boundaries would you still like to abolish? JG: In my works with tissue and carbonpaper I question the boundary between graphics and painting, my acrylics do the same with the boundary between painting and sculpture. But I am not especially interested in giving answers. Thirty years ago, when I started with this concept, I attached more significance to it. Since then my artistic activity has become independent, now I can draw on my wealth of experience. I do not want to eliminate boundaries either, I was interested in recognizing these boundaries in my work, but I did no tintend to abolish them. KDJ: When you are ‘researching’ the boundaries between painting and sculpture, the concept of space must be an important discussion point for you – if only as a consideration of the 2- or 3-dimensionality of your work. What does space mean to you? JG: The beauty of Japanese art lies in the “Ma”, the negative space or gap. It is considered to be a “filled emptiness”. This has inspired me as much as Japanese or Chinese tissue papers or lacquer painting. KDJ: Artists such as Hermann Nitsch, Toshikatsu Endo and Rene Rietmeyer have a strong urge to say something, wanting to be heard to create awareness and accomplish some change in humans and the way they think about the world around them. This is one of the reasons why Rietmeyer started PERSONAL STRUCTURES, for example. Maybe I am mistaken, but I have the feeling that you make your work for different reasons. It seems you are more introvert and create your works as a research for yourself. Am I right? Is there something you want to change in human thinking? JG: As an artist, I hardly have a missionary urge with my work. However, I would like to change human thinking a bit. Worldwide there are about twenty wars and more than a hundred violent conflicts. We are experiencing racism, discrimination, intolerance and violence all over the world. With my work as an artist there is nothing I can do about these problems, but as a politically conscious person I can express my disgust at this state of affairs. KDJ: In 1978 Marcia Hafif wrote the essay “Beginning Again”, in which she describes the situation of painting at that time as no longer being relevant. Her aim was – and seems to have been for the past 30 years – to go back to the question of what painting actually is. Although you seem concerned with the same subjects as she is, you are one generation younger than Hafif is, and were born in another part of the world. Was your situation different than hers? Why do you have this urge to question ‘painting’? JG: All questions of art reappear cyclically. How often has the end of painting been proclaimed… But every generation faces its new tasks which have to be analyzed in accordance with the time and for which new solutions have to be found. Abstract or non-representational painting is probably the greatest achievement in the art of the 20th century, and it is still relevant to me and my work. KDJ: In texts about “Radical Painters” and related artists, often there is a reference being made to the German word “Farbe”, which in English denotes to both paint and colour. Being Austrian, having German as your mother tongue, is there for you an existential difference between paint and colour? Or can we not see them separately? How does colour relate to material? JG: Paint is just material to produce my paintings. In this context, color does not carry meaning or content. A red painting is for me nothing more than a painting that was created from a material whose color is red. KDJ: When I visited your studio in Vienna, it had the impression of being a laboratory. It seems that developing new ideas, coincidences are sometimes important to get further in our development. When you work in such a clean space, is there still room for coincidences? What role do precision and exactness play in your work? To what extent is the act of making a new work an analytical practice? JG: I see myself as an architect who is planning and designing a building. It must comply with his ideas and it is not supposed to collapse. Nevertheless, there are many unexpected problems during the construction that require new decisions. KDJ: For making his brushstrokes, Lee Ufan grinds stone to make pigment out of it. You also sometimes use ‘unusual’ pigments to create your works, such as copper, glass, aluminium or iron. Why do you do that? JG: I already answered your question about paint and color stating that a red painting does not carry meaning or content. But a red image (or whatever color) nevertheless evokes in the viewer a mood, a feeling. I use different materials, grated to powder, that are atypical as pigments in painting. Copper, iron, glass, aluminum are commonly used for sculpture. Copper has something old-fashioned and reminds one of copper kettles or copper roof sheeting, while aluminum, as the metal of the 20th century, lets one think of airplanes or cars. One of my aluminum pictures is “faster” than one made from copper. KDJ: Joseph Kosuth once remarked about Rene Rietmeyer’s VENEZIA glass Boxes that they “suffer from aesthetics.” Opinions are always different, but to me, with regard to your choice of colour, your work does not seem to ‘aim’ for ‘beauty’. What role does beauty or aesthetics play in your work? JG: Especially with my graphics and my works with paper I try to keep to a dilettante approach. Whether the results are “beautiful”, I do not know. I believe that the terms “right” or “appropriate” are more suitable. Viewers have probably their own opinion about it. KDJ: The colours you choose for your work are – in my opinion – quite sombre. Having lived in Vienna for some time, for me these colors go very well with Vienna as a location. To what extent do you think your colour choices – or your work in general – is influenced by the location where you create your works? JG: I am not influenced by the location of my studio. My choice of colors is also not dependent on my whims and moods. Since I started to use iron, glass, copper, etc. as pigments some years ago, the colors do get a completely different meaning. There was one exception once: I made Yves Klein-blue images because I wanted to break the taboo of his ultramarine. But it was just a quote, I did not refer to Klein’s metaphysics. KDJ: Instead of a brush, you use a comb to apply paint to the canvas. What attracts you in this ‘tool’? Why not use your fingers directly, like Arnulf Rainer did? JG: When I started to occupy myself with analytical painting, I also questioned the tools to apply the paint with and I have tried various other tools instead of the commonly used brush. I wanted “impersonal” tools, so fingers were no option. I used timber, boards, nails or a saw-blade to work with the paint. Later I cut comb spatulas from cardboard, I still do that today. KDJ: In the PERSONAL STRUCTURES catalogue for the 55th Venice Biennale, Florian Steininger writes about your work that it is about “painting as process, aloof from the emotional and personal gesture.” What is meant by “painting as process”? Do you look at the process of this particular painting? Or is it also about the process of your œvre? JG: I believe both. The ever-repeated gesture of applying and structuring the paint material to create my images is a repetitive work process and to some extent the growth of my œvre in small changes is also a process over many years. KDJ: I have met you a few times in Vienna and Venice and you made a very “soft” impression on me. To me, you as a person seem quite receptive of emotions and it is hard for me to imagine that your works would miss this ‘emotional’ aspect. I think that always emotions have at least a small influence on the decisions we make, even when it is just from being hungry or wanting to have an orgasm. Is it your aim to exclude these emotions as much as possible – even though it can never really be accomplished? JG: Instead of “soft” I would rather say “well-disposed”. It applies to artists as well as to politicians or other people: those who shout, quickly lose their voice. I prefer tolerance and respect myself and other people as well. Making art is like an expedition. It is planned and prepared, and the expedition leader should keep a clear head. On the way you have to react to something unexpected or you must choose a detour. This is, more or less, my situation as an artist for over thirty years. But still it is not certain that the expedition reaches its destination. You could also reply with the famous quote that the journey is the reward. KDJ: In 2009, I interviewed Marcia Hafif in her New York studio. She told me about her work in relation to time and space. The concepts of time and space were understood by her in a very ‘concrete’ way: the actual location of the work, and the time necessary to produce a work. It seems that time has a broader meaning in your work. An important element in your work seems to be ‘change’, the change of yourself as well as from your work. Change is perceived over time. How do you understand time? What does change mean to you? JG: Of artists is expected that they always come up with something new. “New” receives much attention. I did not want to live up to these expectations, so I adopted an attitude of denial. I began to produce the same pictures again and again, to repeat myself. That worked out well, because soon people started to say that “Gasteiger makes always the same”. But because I am basically non-dogmatic, I have expanded the range of possibilities to express myself in the course of time. KDJ: In an interview for PERSONAL STRUCTURES: TIME SPACE EXISTENCE (2009), Joseph Marioni states that “the element of time, is that my paintings involve a visual transition.” In your paintings, is change only a visual transition? Or does it go beyond that and are they in fact different? JG: Works of art are rooted in the time of their creation. Good art is resistant to zeitgeist and fashions and keeps its importance beyond the time of its origin. KDJ: Being very interested in time and existence myself, for me it is quite difficult to imagine that a person like you or Marcia Hafif spend their life ‘researching’ materialistic elements of painting. After a certain number of years and having painted a certain number of paintings, I know that for me it would become boring. Why does this research matter to you? What keeps you from continuing? Or have you changed over the years and adapted your main concept accordingly? JG: Of course I have changed over the years, at least I hope so. In my art, however, changes are not an intentional decision. I let them happen.There are outstanding works – of myself and others –, they are a benchmark for my work. Working in the studio always means self-reflection and a commitment to high quality standards. Mistakes happen nevertheless, and over time there have been works that I would rather not have shown. KDJ: In 2003, you have stated that “art is man’s activity of creating something new, of researching, of discovering.” Are you still this same opinion? Why do you think it is necessary to create something ‘new’? JG: It is not necessary, it happens. KDJ: Seemingly having a similar concern in your art as Hafif and Marioni, what is so ‘new’ about your work? Is it not rather the fact that it is made by you, that makes the work particular? JG: Yes.

Jakob Gasteiger ( 1953 ) It must have been in 1991 that i first encountered the publicatiions by Picaron editions. Among them was the Travel to Rome portfolio by Marc Mulders .

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