- Byth e Edge
Pa lud ium
of the Marsh
MargitZuckriegl
in
In summer2009,the MirabellGardensPavilion
hostedan exhiSalzburg,
dubbedthe "birdhouse,"
bitionwith new worksby HubertScheibl,
entitled
(Paludium
- By
Paludium Am Ufer des Sumpfes
the Edgeof the Marsh).Thesymbolism
of the title
mirrorsreflections
on the formatof the exhibitionas
way of presenting
imag'es,
in otherwords,
a possible
as a meansof showing,seeingand observing,
but also- particularly
acutelyhere- as a medium
offeringspacefor the playof the imagination.
Every
particular
exhibition
showsa
choiceof works:selecput the meaningfulness
tion and combination
and
sensualimpactof a presentation
to the test: does
the ideamakesensein termsof the content?ls it
possible
to get the vieweron boardto travelalong
a pathof thinkingthingsover,trackingdown their
responses?
Do the roomswith the exhibitiondesignreallybecomea new setting,generating
new
"ln thealchemy
impacts?
of sight,thefrontierof our
imagesis the frontierof our world," as Hubert
scheiblonce saidwhen talkingabout the consonancebetweenthinkingin imagesand our perception of the world. His painterlyexplorations
circle
aroundthe depthsof the images,the bordersof the
visible.
the seduction
of the surface,
tantalising
as a
will-o'-the-wisp,
thetug of the unfathomable.
"Paludium,"
the marsh,is a synonymfor the intensityof thissearch
for images
andthe uncertainty
in demarcating
boundaries,
ferreting
out groundthat
seemsdeceptively
solidand roamingin featureless
terrain.Borders,
firmedgesareno longervalidwhen
fixedstructures
dissolve
andsolidmaterial
crumbles
away,when groundwater risesand seepingfluid
dissolves
the earth.At the edgeof the mire,small
flamesflickerlikejacko' lanterns
abovethe ground,
mist wafts, putrescentgasesdazzle- evokingthe
story by Bauhaus
writer HorstLange,who comparedthe hillylandscape
of his Silesian
homeland,
the wil lowsamongthe swampland
andthe boggy
pastureland,
with the darkdepthsof humanexistence.In 1943AlfredKubinpublished
an illustrated
(Will-o'-the-Wisp),
editionof Das lrrlicht
a parable
of an imoossible
love and the unfathomable
side
of humanyearning.Will-o'-the-wisps
and swamp
dwellers,illusions
and dangerous
sensorypercep-
Exhibition
view,Poludium- Am Ut'erdesSumpfes
Vogelhaus
Mirabellgarten,
Salzburg,
2009
14
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tionsleadpeopleastray,
enticethemto leavesecure
ground.Dazzling,
beautiful
beingslurkin the marsh,
footsteos
and bodiesleavetheirsolidform behind.
ForPaludiumHubertSCheibl
hasselecteda suiteof
worksproducedoverthe lasttwo years.TheDelphi
installation,
madeup of the namesof earlierdrawings,Trancosofrom 1998,functionsas a separate
sectionin the exhibition
andthesedrawings
serveas
a pointof reference
for a large-format
oil painting,
Dave,from the Cosmonaut
cycleand a veryrecent
three-dimensional
work. Paintings
in a highlylinear
stylesetthe tonein thisfirstroomof the exhibition,
takingagitated.nervous,
burredhybridtechniques
asthe pointof departure
andextending
theirscope
to encompass
the sweepinggestureof sculpture.
Likea throbbingheartbeat,
this dialoguebetween
emotionalbrushwork
and densepaintedblocksof
colourcontinues
across
the furrowedfieldsof energy.Thelargemiddleroomisdominated
by a further
A SpaceOdyssey
work and new pieces,takenfrom
the "handling
sumps"series,
whicharearranged
to
establish
an analogy
with thiswork,whilstthe third
sectiongroupstogetherthe very recent"Nicotin"
works.
ThatmakesPaludium
an exhibition
conceived
as
a triptych,the lateralsections
tendingto take on
the role of the sidepanelsyet at the sametime
displaying
theirown specific
characteristics.
Plumbing the depthsfrom various
anglesoffersan insight
(Fathomless)
- to citethe title of
into the Un-Tiefen
publication
the 2006 Scheibl
by the Museumder
Moderne,Salzburg.
Thevaryingphenomenology
of
eachof these"fathomless"
waterscan be observed
from the surface:
the infinitespaceof soft hollows
extendsbeneaththe raspygraphicepidermis,
with
the silveryvapourof icy mist spreading
acrossit.
journeys
Scheibl
likea navigator
throughthe infinite
expanses
of spaceand intothe deepabysses
of the
earth'sinterior,
whereeverything
movesat astoundingspeedlikethe impactof a meteorite
andinfinitely slowlylikethe glimmerof vanished
stars.
HubertScheibl's
filmicmemoryharboursfantasiesof universes
and spacelikea compilation
and
concentration
of varioussequences:
in the superpositionsand interferences.
residues
of creatures
and
Roofof theVogelhaus
Mirabellgarten,
Salzburg
16
.'--'-=stake shape,echoesof sentencesresounding,
'-=- ' adr ngaway ,an d e v e n tsb u b b l i n gu p fro m th e
:-.::-s T hinkf or ex a m p l eo f J a m e sC a m e ro n ' s1 9 8 9
' - ine Abyss,in which outer space above and
. :'^]ev al s ea below a m a l g a ma tei;n th e w a k e o f
: -r,cmarinewreck, mysterious,magicallyglowing
:'.::- r es em er gein th e d a rk n e s o
s f th e d e p th sa s i f
:,::- at r ngt he ink yd a rk n e s o
s f th e c o s m o sa n d th e
,:.ces of memory that Hubert Scheibltaps into
::€. up - evoidof contoursand coordinates.
)'awing on devicesrooted in gestureand move-:.:. he drags the crucialstatementsfrom these
:-crphous under gr o u n dre a l ms .S c h e i b l ' h
s a l l m a rk
::. e rsone of expansive
vehemence,unfailinglypre: -<eperception,decisivedescriptions
and great dy-:'rrs m in ploughingth ro u g hth e s u rfa c eth
; e tra c e s
:' rrs gestureswork to plumb the depths of the
:. .rtrngs,puttinginto writingwhat is merelysensed,
)r-.ts of f or m ulat io ni n th e d a rk ro o m .
Hls new works, entitled Nicotin on Silverscreen,
:'e devotedto what has been a non-colourin the
- s:oryof painting:silver.An impenetrable
tinfoil-like
a.er settlesover a spacedense with speculation:
'=s duesof colourand scratches,
red-hotislandsand
:'een-oozingscarsshimmerthrough, the icy grey
- st has banishedall tracesof light to the depths
:'rd condensedthem into a compact,dense picto'a l re lief .T he bur nin go f th e n i c o ti n ei n s mo k e ,th e
^arcotic inhaled vapors play with the associative
^rerpretationsof the title, just as the silverscreen
'eferenceshow the mediaage transformsall repreinto a blank surfaceready to receive
sentativeness
imaginings.At the sametime this touches
cro.;ected
impetusin Hubert Scheibl's
on an anti-avantgarde
ceuvre:the screensin largefilm theatres,the way a
Sensoroundprojectionbecomesa real event;these
are the ecstasiesand deoths of the worlds where
the scenariosof his images- unboundedas a maelstrom- are playedout. In Paludium,HubertScheibl
has createdan exhibitronconceivedas a route towards a type of experiencewhich on the one hand
rs closelyintertwinedwith the focal points in his
ceuvreas it has developedover the decades,whilst
on the other hand it uses a kind of constructive
soatialstructureto create a new definitionof the
material
contentof hiswork:the marshas primeval
attractive
and unfathomable
depths,the magically
this
lightglimmering
in thetug of the unconscious;
within which
of the imagination
is the landscape
ne moves.
17