Herbert Brandl - Austrian Pavilion - 52nd. International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia
In his exhibition in the Austrian Pavilion, Herbert Brandl is showing 13 paintings of differing sizes. He created all of them in 2007 specially for the pavilion. The artist, who was born in 1959 in Graz, in the Steiermark, and lives in Vienna, is now known among international experts, thanks to a series of important exhibitions and projects, as one of the most original and powerful painters to appear in recent years. His solo show at the Venice Biennial is a major artistic gesture showing a wide personal repertoire. more
History of the Austrian Pavilion (Essay, April 2007)
In the middle of the public park, the “Giardini“, on the northeastern edge of the city of Venice stands an austere white building. From November through June it remains hermetically sealed. It is a cross between a warehouse (right nearby are boat garages of a similar design) and an architectural monument. The façade features horizontal waves. It is painted pure white. Above this is a series of windows running all the way around the building. There is a small red sign visible on the left edge of the building. In geometric letters in a modernist font from the 1930s “Wiener Werkstätte” days is the word “AUSTRIA“.
This Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial was built in 1934 according to plans by Josef Hoffmann, one of the founders of the Viennese Secession (1897). It is the 20th century Austrian exhibition building that has had the most enduring effects on the prestige and the careers of exponents of the visual arts. more
Artists and Commissioners of the last 30 years:
1978 Arnulf Rainer (Commissioners Werner Hofmann and Hans Hollein)
1980 Valie Export and Maria Lassnig (Commissioners Werner Hofmann and Hans Hollein) more
How do you create a Biennial pavilion? (Jan. 2007)
In the anecdotes and stories shared by artists relating to their participation in the Venice Biennial, their respective preparatory trips to Venice hold a special position. Typically, the preparatory trip usually takes place about eight to ten months prior to the Biennial – assuming that the nomination process in the respective country allows the artist(s) and the commissioner any such lead time. That said, this has long been the practice in Austria as it has in other countries with important national pavilions at the Biennial. Many of the 35 or so nations who showcase their own entries in Venice with their own pavilion do not nominate the artists or commissioners until much later in the day. more
What does a national pavilion offer? (Essay, Feb. 2007)
Probably every visitor to the Biennale di Venezia has been torn between the charm of the pavilions, that are spread around the Biennale’s Giardini and in part the rest of the city, too, on the one hand, and the unusual fact, on the other, that here suddenly an exhibition goes hand in hand with representing a country. National pavilions in this form only exist at the Biennale di Venezia when it comes to exhibitions of contemporary art.
What should we make of this? Are the national pavilions a unique inimitable invention, as the artists and curators who are given the privilege of designing one of the pavilions are constantly claiming? Or are they an anachronistic relic of European nationalism from the first half of the 20th century, as art critics have been stating since the early 1960s? Are the national pavilions in Venice perhaps even a reactionary variable that keeps national sentiment alive in an age when art addresses global issues? In the forthcoming art summer, this question will encapsulate the difference between La Biennale di Venezia and the documenta in Kassel. more
The Austrian Pavilion
The Austrian pavilion at the Venice Biennial was built in spring 1934 based on plans by Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956). As of 1897 Hoffmann was a founding member of the Vienna Secession and later the Wiener Werkstätte. The pavilion can be seen as a continuation of the structural style of the Secession building in Vienna (designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich). more
In his exhibition in the Austrian Pavilion, Herbert Brandl is showing 13 paintings of differing sizes. He created all of them in 2007 specially for the pavilion. The artist, who was born in 1959 in Graz, in the Steiermark, and lives in Vienna, is now known among international experts, thanks to a series of important exhibitions and projects, as one of the most original and powerful painters to appear in recent years. His solo show at the Venice Biennial is a major artistic gesture showing a wide personal repertoire. more
History of the Austrian Pavilion (Essay, April 2007)
In the middle of the public park, the “Giardini“, on the northeastern edge of the city of Venice stands an austere white building. From November through June it remains hermetically sealed. It is a cross between a warehouse (right nearby are boat garages of a similar design) and an architectural monument. The façade features horizontal waves. It is painted pure white. Above this is a series of windows running all the way around the building. There is a small red sign visible on the left edge of the building. In geometric letters in a modernist font from the 1930s “Wiener Werkstätte” days is the word “AUSTRIA“.
This Austrian Pavilion at the Venice Biennial was built in 1934 according to plans by Josef Hoffmann, one of the founders of the Viennese Secession (1897). It is the 20th century Austrian exhibition building that has had the most enduring effects on the prestige and the careers of exponents of the visual arts. more
Artists and Commissioners of the last 30 years:
1978 Arnulf Rainer (Commissioners Werner Hofmann and Hans Hollein)
1980 Valie Export and Maria Lassnig (Commissioners Werner Hofmann and Hans Hollein) more
How do you create a Biennial pavilion? (Jan. 2007)
In the anecdotes and stories shared by artists relating to their participation in the Venice Biennial, their respective preparatory trips to Venice hold a special position. Typically, the preparatory trip usually takes place about eight to ten months prior to the Biennial – assuming that the nomination process in the respective country allows the artist(s) and the commissioner any such lead time. That said, this has long been the practice in Austria as it has in other countries with important national pavilions at the Biennial. Many of the 35 or so nations who showcase their own entries in Venice with their own pavilion do not nominate the artists or commissioners until much later in the day. moreWhat does a national pavilion offer? (Essay, Feb. 2007)
Probably every visitor to the Biennale di Venezia has been torn between the charm of the pavilions, that are spread around the Biennale’s Giardini and in part the rest of the city, too, on the one hand, and the unusual fact, on the other, that here suddenly an exhibition goes hand in hand with representing a country. National pavilions in this form only exist at the Biennale di Venezia when it comes to exhibitions of contemporary art.
What should we make of this? Are the national pavilions a unique inimitable invention, as the artists and curators who are given the privilege of designing one of the pavilions are constantly claiming? Or are they an anachronistic relic of European nationalism from the first half of the 20th century, as art critics have been stating since the early 1960s? Are the national pavilions in Venice perhaps even a reactionary variable that keeps national sentiment alive in an age when art addresses global issues? In the forthcoming art summer, this question will encapsulate the difference between La Biennale di Venezia and the documenta in Kassel. more
The Austrian Pavilion
The Austrian pavilion at the Venice Biennial was built in spring 1934 based on plans by Josef Hoffmann (1870-1956). As of 1897 Hoffmann was a founding member of the Vienna Secession and later the Wiener Werkstätte. The pavilion can be seen as a continuation of the structural style of the Secession building in Vienna (designed by Joseph Maria Olbrich). more
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 401 x 301 cm, Courtesy Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 401 x 301 cm, Courtesy Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt/Main |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 300 x 401 cm, Courtesy Galería Heinrich Ehrhardt, Madrid |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cm, Courtesy Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt/Main |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Ohne Titel, 2007, Öl auf Leinwand, 300 x 201 cm, Courtesy Galerie Sabine Knust, München |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 301 x 200 cm, Courtesy Galerie Elisabeth und Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 218 x 170 cm, Courtesy Galerie Elisabeth und Klaus Thoman, Innsbruck |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 250 x 501 cm, Courtesy Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 218 x 170 cm, Courtesy Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 351 x 452 cm, Courtesy Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 300 x 400 cm, Courtesy Galerie nächst St. Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Wien |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 300 x 400 cm, Courtesy Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt/Main |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Untitled, 2007, oil on canvas, 300 x 501 cm, Courtesy Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt/Main |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl in front of the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl, Austrian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia, installation shot |  |
| Herbert Brandl and Commissioner Robert Fleck in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl and Commissioner Robert Fleck in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl and Commissioner Robert Fleck in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl and Commissioner Robert Fleck in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
