Herbert Brandl – Pacific dead wood

It is with great honor that the House of Art presents the work of one of the most important representatives of contemporary Austrian art, Herbert Brandl.

For many years, the main theme of Brandl’s art has been nature, including an exploration of its diversity and its various manifestations. In his works – always characterized by a forceful expressiveness and painterly gesture – Brandl clearly shows how important the very “process” of painting is to him.

The artist’s works, which range from abstract to figurative and in terms of subject matter include everything from mountains, forests, rivers, and landscapes to mysterious abstract compositions and animal motifs such as hyenas – which are typical for his sculptural work as well.

Herbert Brandl was born in 1959 in Graz and studied under Herbert Tasquil and Peter Weibel at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. From 2004 to 2019, he taught at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Brandl represented Austria at the Venice Biennale in 2007, participated in the São Paulo Biennial in 1989, and in 1992 showed his work at documenta IX in Kassel, Germany.

He has also held countless solo exhibition, a sampling of which includes Belvedere 21, Vienna (2020); Kunsthaus Graz (2020); Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz (2020); Haus der Kunst St. Josef, Solothurn (2016);
Osthaus Museum Hagen (2016); Bank Austria Kunstforum, Vienna (2012); Albertina, Vienna (2010); Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2009), Kunsthalle Basel (1999); Secession, Vienna (1998); Museum Haus Esters, Krefeld (1994); Kunsthalle Bern (1991); Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent (1991); and Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz (1984). The exhibition in České Budějovice has been made possible thanks to the kind support of Rosemarie Schwarzwälder’s Galerie nächst St. Stephan in Vienna, where Brandl first exhibited (with Adrian Schiess) in 1997 and held solo showings in 1998, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023.

His work can be found in numerous private and public collections, including: Albertina, Vienna; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich; Kunstmuseum Bonn; Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris; Museu Serralves, Porto; mumok – Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna; Reina Sofia, Madrid; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; Renaissance Society, Chicago; and Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz.

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.