MORTIFIED MATTER NO. 1
Series: THE EPISTEMIC GRIP
Material: Fine-Art-Print, Alu-Dibond
Dimensions: 80 x 120 cm
Year: 2026
Lim.: 9 (1 AP)
Abstract
This high-contrast black-and-white photograph documents the clinical moment of sample extraction for the FIELD RECONSTRUCTION REPORT. At the center of the harsh, forensic composition hangs the subject of investigation, Artifact of the Grip No. 3 (Painted Flesh), suspended from a meat hook. The impasto-painted surface structures of the object emerge in vivid, sculptural relief under the dramatic lighting. The face of artist Mario Tischhauser is only half-visible in deep shadow, while his hand poised in mid-air begins to execute a cut with a precisely angled scalpel. The sharp blade reflects the sterile light, becoming the focal point of a calculated, surgical deconstruction.
Deep Dive: Conceptual Insight
The work captures the performative intersection between scientific dissection and artistic appropriation. Through the extreme chiaroscuro contrast of the black-and-white medium, the scene is stripped of all organic warmth, turning into a cold, almost forensic gathering of evidence. Suspended from a meat hook, Painted Flesh evokes the commodified and reified nature of biological matter—which here, however, is of synthetic origin: a fabricated surrogate within the Hephaestus Protocol.
The scalpel, its blade piercing the darkness as a gleaming point of light, functions as an instrument of both dismantling and epistemic inquiry. The hand, which in previous works enacted the grip, here cleaves the tissue to lay bare its interior. The partial obscuring of the actor’s face depersonalizes the intervention: it depicts not the creator, but the detached investigator, relentlessly mapping the boundaries between creation, body, and artifact for the FIELD RECONSTRUCTION REPORT.
For more information please visit: mariotischhauser.com
