HERBERT BRANDLPacific Dead Wood
Museum Exhibition
Gallery of Contemporary Art and Architecture / House of Art
Budweis
Czech Republic
24 Apr – 2 Jun 2024
Brandl’s abstract pictorial world of powerful, colorful spaces possessing an inimitable atmosphere presents a view of nature not as illustration but as an exploration of man’s relationship to the nature that surrounds him. Brandl has managed, in a highly convincing manner, to produce works possessing an imaginative depth imbued with painterly freedom and an almost visionary sense of perspective. For his monumental motifs, Brandl applies a wide range of techniques and formats and works with contradictions between form and content. He applies expressive gestures, usually working rapidly, intuitively, and without any previous planning. The České Budějovice exhibition, titled Pacific Dead Wood, consists of a small crosssection of Brandl’s older work, plus several more recent pieces. Herbert Brandl’s latest paintings reveal a fascinating sense of the infinite. They relate to observations of nature, with unexpected perspectives and an often wild use of colors. These works were inspired by a German television show which showed the Earth as seen from space, specifically an image taken from several thousand kilometers up, showing the expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Thanks to their great height and perspective, images from space cause the Pacific Ocean to feel like an abstract composition, which Brandl translates into his paintings. The process of abstraction thus begins not on the canvas but within the context of advanced technology. The exhibition also shows Brandl’s passion for collecting items (objects) or various visual phenomena. Alongside his deep fascination with Japanese swords, masks, quartzes, or large African cats, in recent years he has devoted himself intently to growing bonsai. All these activities and interests are quite naturally reflected in his art, including sculpture: in addition to painting, for the past more than fifteen years he has devoted himself with the same sense of urgency to producing a remarkable body of sculptural works (worth mentioning here are his animal motifs and subjects from nature). Brandl’s collection of “objects” is often a source of inspiration for his artistic practice, in both form and content. His repository of quotes from comic books, movies, music, and everyday media, meanwhile, provide him with the titles for his exhibitions. These tend to avoid clear references and interpretations, instead playing with popcultural and social references while providing a humorous counterpoint to excessively serious interpretations of his work.
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Photo
- Jan Mahr
- © House of Art, Budweis
- Courtesy: House of Art, Budweis
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