Taking world events as his starting point, Robert Kunec addresses current events and political subjects in his approach to his art, dealing with political, moral and religious content. With Suicide Bomber 1:3 (2015) he has created a sculptural construction kit for a suicide attacker, suggesting profound levels of meaning. From terror, fanaticism, the urge to self-sacrifice, and the human being who is used like a plaything, dehumanised and tossed around in a game of military strategies, to the dissemination of images of force and fear in the mass media and the instrumentalisation of such images by the media.

— Magdalena Koschat 

Politics, faith, religion and the urge to self-sacrifice form recurring thematic groups in Robert Kunec’s approach to art, presenting us with references to day-to-day political events and also references to art history. Taking Francisco de Zurbarán’sAgnus Deias a starting point, he places  the lamb (which through the martyr’s death stands for the sins of the world and their redemption) at the centre of a number of drawings, providing a metaphor for the Christian motif of sacrifice. In the various representations of the lamb, bound and with a plastic bag over its head, Robert Kunec creates a link with the Iraq war and the images of the Abu Ghraib tortures. The lettering on the back of the sheets of paper appears on the front page as a mirror image, symbolically recalling Arabic writing, which is read from left to right.

— Magdalena Koschat 

A historic transport box for donor organs which Robert Kunec came upon by chance in Belgium is transformed by him into a wagon whose contents remain hidden from us and which at the same time is able to tell powerfully significant stories. The symbols of suffering and faith and the “Vanitas” motifs that are painted on it seem to accompany us on a path from life to the beyond, making it clear that man is powerless in the face of the transient nature of earthly existence.

— Magdalena Koschat