Friedrich Kunath, Cars & Coffee Los Angeles, 2022. Photo: Evan Walsh
Friedrich Kunath: I Don't Know The Place, But I Know How To Get There
“Abendlied” by Hanns Dieter Hüsch
Butterfly is coming home
Little bear is coming home
Kangaroo is coming home
The lights aglow, the day is done.
Codfish is swimming home
Elephant is walking home
Ant is racing home
The lights aglow, the day is done.
Fox and goose are coming home
Cat and mouse are coming home
Man and woman are coming home
The lights aglow, the day is done.
All is asleep and all is awake,
All is in tears and all is laughter,
All is silence and all is chatter,
And sadly, we’ll never know it all.
All is screaming and all is listening,
All is dreaming and then in life,
All will be replaced again one day.
Already the evening sits atop our home,
Butterfly is flying home
Wild horse is bolting home
Older child is coming home
The lights aglow, the day is done.
Friedrich Kunath (b. 1974, Chemnitz, Germany) studied at the Braunschweig University of Arts, Braunschweig, Germany and now lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Kunath utilizes a personal style of romantic conceptualism, layering poetic phrases with poignant, often melancholy imagery. The work embraces comedy and pathos, evoking universal feelings of love, hope, longing, and despair. The artist’s personal journey from Germany to Los Angeles plays a key role in his work, incorporating German Romanticism and western popular culture, with still life, cartoon imagery, commercial illustration, nature photography, and lyrical references.