Heimo Zobernig

I am not plugged into the art world fully, so I have not heard of Austrian artist Heimo Zobernig before today. But, just seeing some of his work, I was instantly captivated. Without even reading his artist’s statement, I could guess his intentions. Although minimal, his works certainly betrayed a very rich, inquisitive, mind - that of a rather cerebral artist.

“Since the beginning of the nineties, Zobernig has not stopped questioning the artist’s subjectivity and pushing the logics of identity relating to a more and more restricting art system. One of his ways to tackle this issue is to reintroduce his own body in his work. With the strangely asexual puppet bearing his effigy, he brings his own presence in the exhibition. While rejecting the Viennese Actionists’ position, he keeps their sense of the scene and the necessity of a bodily experience, adding distanciation and desubjectivation.”

“Since 2000, following the research of the latter and the Australian artist Ian Burn, Zobernig has been [creating a series of paintings built on a grid structure]. In the partially coloured grid paintings, he uses chromatic canvasses, paints them white and then strips off the adhesive tapes he has applied. Conversely, two other canvasses show a white grid, after the canvass has been covered with an acrylic ultramarine painting. While referring metaphorically and formally to modernity, it is through these new variations on the grid structure that Zobernig pursues his aim: to allow the viewer’s subjectivity free rein by avoiding any interpretation.”