Talk with Herbert Brandl in November 2007
Robert Fleck: Yesterday, the pictures were taken down in Venice and packed. The sky was gray, it rained, and everything was a little bid sad. On entering your show in Innsbruck and viewing the new pictures you have produced since the Biennial then what comes to mind is: "After the Biennial you just kept going at thing, full tilt!” Often after a biennial artists have a tough time. But you have simply taken up where the pictures for Venice left off.
Herbert Brandl: I was in fact not “exhausted” by the opening of the Biennial, as it did not really involve stress for me, I was completely and utterly wrecked. Since in October 2006 I had succeeded in postponing my scheduled shows I had time on my hands.
RF: Many visitors were taken by the intensity of your work for Venice. When setting up the show we were likewise surprised at how the Venetian light interacted with your paintings. Things that had not been visible in your studio in Venice suddenly emerged.
HB: In my studio in Vienna, it is the gray Viennese light that prevails, with a few particles of red in it. The colors remain more restrained. One tends to perceive the surface of an image there. In Venice, by contrast, the colors start to glow in that incredibly strong red light and thanks to the great humidity. The heyday of Venetian painting had much to do with this. And perhaps secretly I had counted on this effect. more
Conversation with Herbert Brandl (May 2007)
Robert Fleck: Among your paintings for Venice there is one abstract one with a “crazy” color combination or red, yellow and violet. It reminds me of a sunset. Is such an interpretation permissible?
Herbert Brandl: It is a sunrise. (laughs) The red of dawn.
RF: You often study photos before you start painting. Was there one that inspired the painting?
HB: Yes. However, they were photos of a sunset. The picture then turned into a sunrise in the process of painting. The photos were taken in the North of Lanzarote, from a steep cliff looking out to sea. I have constantly found the idea of processing these photos exciting. Of course I did not paint copies of them. It’s as if you see them out of the side of your eyes. more
Herbert Brandl in the Austrian Pavilion
For over 20 years, Herbert Brandl (born 1959 in Graz, lives in Vienna) has been creating a painterly oeuvre of truly international status. It is quite unprecedented in the manner in which it explores the possibilities of color and as regards both figuration and abstraction has made a series of significant contributions to contemporary iconography and the debate on painting. more
Biography
1959 born in Graz
1978 Academy of Applied Arts, Vienna (Prof. Tasquil, Prof. Weibel)
since 2004 Professor / Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
lives and works in Vienna more
Bibliography
Mongraphs
Catalogues on Group Exhibitions
Artist’s Books more
Hans Ulrich Obrist talks to Herbert Brandl
For the retrospective exhibition in Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz 2002, Hans Ulrich Obrist talks with Herbert Brandl about painting and life. Their collaboratin started with "The Broken Mirror", an international survey about contemporary painting organized in 1993 by Kasper König and Hans Ulrich Obrist. more
Achille Bonito Oliva about Herbert Brandl
"Brandl makes use of abstract shapes that create a sense of calm and relaxation, something achieved through extensive expanses of color, which fill the field of vision with increasing tension towards the edges and announce the possibility that the picture will extend beyond the frame. more
Martin Prinzhorn on Herbert Brandl
BETWEEN THE FIELDS
HERBERT BRANDL’S PAINTING OF THE TRANSITIONS
For all its being unmistakeable Herbert Brandl’s oeuvre, as far its surfaces go, is very diverse. It hovers between traditional motifs like flowers, landscapes, or mountains on the one hand and non-representational textures and planes on the other; as well as between nearly sculptural masses of oil paint and watercolour-like, almost immaterial hues or huge, black and white works in Indian ink on paper. more
Peter Pakesch to Herbert Brandl
"Dear Herbert,
A most important parallel between your work and that of Adrian (Schiess) has occurred to me, relating to the fact that painting is connected with light. Namely, the reduction of light which you both occasionally strive for. more
Julian Heynen about Herbert Brandl
"Herbert Brandl’s images are in constant danger of slipping up and sliding away. It is not just color that flows in them and is wiped aside. Here, evidently the intention of painting the picture gets forgotten in the simple handling of the material. The pictures are full of coincidences and accidents." more
Norman Rosenthal about Herbert Brandl
It is a landscape painting that arises from abstract principles, which creates mood from the colour that drives itself across the canvas with all the force of a storm. more
Robert Fleck: Yesterday, the pictures were taken down in Venice and packed. The sky was gray, it rained, and everything was a little bid sad. On entering your show in Innsbruck and viewing the new pictures you have produced since the Biennial then what comes to mind is: "After the Biennial you just kept going at thing, full tilt!” Often after a biennial artists have a tough time. But you have simply taken up where the pictures for Venice left off.
Herbert Brandl: I was in fact not “exhausted” by the opening of the Biennial, as it did not really involve stress for me, I was completely and utterly wrecked. Since in October 2006 I had succeeded in postponing my scheduled shows I had time on my hands.
RF: Many visitors were taken by the intensity of your work for Venice. When setting up the show we were likewise surprised at how the Venetian light interacted with your paintings. Things that had not been visible in your studio in Venice suddenly emerged.
HB: In my studio in Vienna, it is the gray Viennese light that prevails, with a few particles of red in it. The colors remain more restrained. One tends to perceive the surface of an image there. In Venice, by contrast, the colors start to glow in that incredibly strong red light and thanks to the great humidity. The heyday of Venetian painting had much to do with this. And perhaps secretly I had counted on this effect. more
Conversation with Herbert Brandl (May 2007)
Robert Fleck: Among your paintings for Venice there is one abstract one with a “crazy” color combination or red, yellow and violet. It reminds me of a sunset. Is such an interpretation permissible?
Herbert Brandl: It is a sunrise. (laughs) The red of dawn.
RF: You often study photos before you start painting. Was there one that inspired the painting?
HB: Yes. However, they were photos of a sunset. The picture then turned into a sunrise in the process of painting. The photos were taken in the North of Lanzarote, from a steep cliff looking out to sea. I have constantly found the idea of processing these photos exciting. Of course I did not paint copies of them. It’s as if you see them out of the side of your eyes. more
Herbert Brandl in the Austrian Pavilion
For over 20 years, Herbert Brandl (born 1959 in Graz, lives in Vienna) has been creating a painterly oeuvre of truly international status. It is quite unprecedented in the manner in which it explores the possibilities of color and as regards both figuration and abstraction has made a series of significant contributions to contemporary iconography and the debate on painting. more
Biography
1959 born in Graz1978 Academy of Applied Arts, Vienna (Prof. Tasquil, Prof. Weibel)
since 2004 Professor / Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
lives and works in Vienna more
Bibliography
Mongraphs
Catalogues on Group Exhibitions
Artist’s Books more
Hans Ulrich Obrist talks to Herbert Brandl
For the retrospective exhibition in Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum in Graz 2002, Hans Ulrich Obrist talks with Herbert Brandl about painting and life. Their collaboratin started with "The Broken Mirror", an international survey about contemporary painting organized in 1993 by Kasper König and Hans Ulrich Obrist. more
Achille Bonito Oliva about Herbert Brandl
"Brandl makes use of abstract shapes that create a sense of calm and relaxation, something achieved through extensive expanses of color, which fill the field of vision with increasing tension towards the edges and announce the possibility that the picture will extend beyond the frame. more
Martin Prinzhorn on Herbert Brandl
BETWEEN THE FIELDS
HERBERT BRANDL’S PAINTING OF THE TRANSITIONS
For all its being unmistakeable Herbert Brandl’s oeuvre, as far its surfaces go, is very diverse. It hovers between traditional motifs like flowers, landscapes, or mountains on the one hand and non-representational textures and planes on the other; as well as between nearly sculptural masses of oil paint and watercolour-like, almost immaterial hues or huge, black and white works in Indian ink on paper. more
Peter Pakesch to Herbert Brandl
"Dear Herbert,
A most important parallel between your work and that of Adrian (Schiess) has occurred to me, relating to the fact that painting is connected with light. Namely, the reduction of light which you both occasionally strive for. more
Julian Heynen about Herbert Brandl
"Herbert Brandl’s images are in constant danger of slipping up and sliding away. It is not just color that flows in them and is wiped aside. Here, evidently the intention of painting the picture gets forgotten in the simple handling of the material. The pictures are full of coincidences and accidents." more
Norman Rosenthal about Herbert Brandl
It is a landscape painting that arises from abstract principles, which creates mood from the colour that drives itself across the canvas with all the force of a storm. more
| Herbert Brandl in front of the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Restaurator Peter Hanzer and Herbert Brandl in the Austrian Pavilion (left to right) |  |
| Herbert Brandl in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl in the Austrian Pavilion |  |
| Herbert Brandl in Venice |  |
| Herbert Brandl in Venice |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
| Portrait Herbert Brandl |  |
