The Swimmer Painting

A new painting by Anton Hoeger, who keeps an eye on the current modern age. Even in early series of paintings, recurring the complete works of Anton Hoeger, one can find confrontations with modern technology, which does not necessarily appear superficially in the work of art. An involvement of the art viewer beyond the fantasy-driven re-experience and aesthetic art experience is inevitable in Anton Hoeger's art. In The Swimmer this new kind of aesthetics as experience and reflection becomes particularly clear. The naked woman with the bathing cap is not simply a nude figure in front of an apparently neutral background, but a haunting offer to the viewer. The new world is falling apart. Values that we can rely on, are becoming fragile. The volatile world dominates modern man. The cybernetic revolution, digitalisation, is advancing. Political structures are becoming unstable, anthropogenic climate change dominates the discourse and future scenarios are "gini out the bottle" and "stalled engines". The female figure in The Swimmer interprets these apparently gloomy prognoses of the immediate modern era. In the background there is an image of a neutral white fragile canvas. The naked woman's upper body and face are exaggeratedly injured in color, a victim from the dystopian TV series The Walking Dead? A frightening sight at first glance, yet Hoeger resolves the bathroom scenario in the almost concentrated and averted gaze of the depicted woman, supported by the striking bathing cap. Here, we find the actual message of Hoeger. The young woman is a symbol of the challenged man of modern times. Hoeger makes the decisive turn in the title of the picture. He, who swims, does not sink!