Hubert Scheibl - ADRIFT AND SECURE

Galerie Jahn is showing the sixth solo exhibition by the artist Hubert Scheibl under the title “ADRIFT AND SECURE”. The exhibition is being opened by Dr Hans- Werner Schmidt, the retired long-standing Director of the Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig, on 8 November at 7.30 p.m. Dr. Hans-Werner Schmidt penned the foreword to the accompanying catalogue published for the exhibition.

Hubert Scheibl, who was born in Gmunden in 1952, studied under Max Weiler and Arnulf Rainer in Vienna. In the 1980s he was part of the Austrian “Neue Wilde” group of artists, whose large-format pictures are characterized by an individual, gestural and defiantly abstract painting style with exuberant colourfulness. Scheibl already showed tendencies towards monochrome painting in the mid-1980s, thus setting himself apart from the other representatives of the “Neue Wilde” group. Scheibl took part in the Biennale in Venice and in São Paulo in the 1980s. Followed by several exhibitions at renowned public and private institutions (Vienna, Salzburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, Modena, Luxembourg, Paris, New York), paving the way for him to become one of the most important Austrian artists of his generation. Hubert Scheibl lived in New York for several years which still has an influence on his work and thinking today. American authors and directors influence his work in particular, many of his picture titles pick up on dialogues from these American film masterpieces.

The centrepiece of the exhibition, which can be seen at Galerie Jahn from 8 November 2017 to 26 January 2018, are the “Ones” works, from one of Hubert Scheibl’s most recent series of works. The “ADRIFT AND SECURE” exhibition was created in close cooperation with the artist and provides an impressive insight into his creative works over the last few years in the form of medium to large-format works on canvas and a selection of works on paper. Many of Scheibl’s works are created using a process developed by him where he primes the usually large-format canvas with a thick layer of changing colours letting each of them dry briefly. He then often adds a layer of black or white paint over this. Using a brush style or spatula he scores deeply scraped trails into the picture’s top layers and brings parts of the bottom layer of paint to the surface using a pallet knife. This associative working process has to be quick as it’s not possible to work with the layers of paint any more once the oil paints have dried. Impressions of nature or landscapes are often indicated but they are abstract works that impress due to their extraordinary atmosphere and spatial depth.