Seven men ride in a boat. In the water drifts debris and mines. On board there is an oil barrel, a burning torch and a TV. The sea is stormy, and the waves have taken the form of rocaille. Welcome to the Rococo. Welcome to the 21st century.
The use of this metaphor, to illustrate Moritz Götze’s work, is to highlight the historical context of his works and the urgent problems of his time. With great painting and drawing ability, he adds his visions to clear compositions; their significance is staggered in almost unfounded depths. These visions often wear the robe of aristocratic nonchalance, which at times are clearly creating a drastic response in contemporary settings.
During 2004 to 2005 Moritz Götze painted his work "The Room". It shows a group of Europeans in colonial garb, which are desperately defending themselves against an invisible enemy. On the right half of the image appear the ruins of Western civilization paired with Arabic characters. They describe a formula for making the explosive mixture Al-Napht, which was used in medieval Seekriegen. The uproar caused by some Qur'anic caricatures and the subsequent assault on Western embassies in Arab countries was first prophesised in Götze’s work, later being of course a reality. Already in 1997, the artist created a gloomy prophecy when he painted a plane that crashes into a skyscraper (displayed in: Moritz Götze, Station to Station, Leipzig 1997).
The memoirs of Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) serves as an important starting point for the Rococo series. He is among the most important cultural and historical visionaries of the 18th century and encompasses the historic panorama and the cavalier piece. Such is also the masterly drawing "The Surprise", which refers to another great pioneer of the Rococo: Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Baron Munchausen (1720 to 1797). Key to this picture is the 1943 film shot with Hanns Albers in the lead role. The dialogue with the disembodied female head is borrowed from this film. In the drawing, it is located in a trio of scenes, first between the unrestrained growing out of a flowerpot where a lady without a body appears, a conversation started on the phone (aptly represented by a text spiral) and an incoming young woman in a summer hat and knee socks.
A Moritz Götze still life is very much comparison to a collage. It sits on the wall showing a forty-year journal like entry where one can sit and look out from a very Munchausen viewpoint. The carpet is covered with patterns, drawings, along with an upside down watering can resulting in a puddle, next to which is pruning shears, perhaps a threat to the flowerpot woman. The face in the TV is watching the scenery, the transmitter promises Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The Background Wallpaper plays scenes from the great life, love, death, religion and money. There is an open door, which will definitely lead to nowhere. Gotze's view of life and art coincides with that of the Rococo inasmuch as he paints the heaviest subjects with the greatest of ease, but also with disillusioned clarity and depth.
Moritz Götze’s Ernest attitude aroused great interest within not only collectors, but also in museums. This year he will present in the Nuremberg Germanic National Museum; 2007 directed by the Saarland Museum Saarbrücken. He will exhibit a solo show in 2009 which the museum dedicated to him two large personal exhibitions.