Hugo Markl
Hugo Markl (born December 6, 1964 in Pasadena, California) is a contemporary American artist, curator and creative director. He studied Visual communication at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (1985–90) where he graduated with an M.A. in fine arts. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, video, drawing, printmaking, installation art and performance. Markl lives in New York City.
Contents
Work
"I imitate popular art that will not become popular art". With these words Hugo Markl has described his art, which feeds on the media imagery of consumer society, newspapers and porn websites, fashion magazines such as Vogue, logos of multinational corporations like FedEx, and even traffic signs, or objects charged with cultural and social connotations, such as the famous Winchester rifle. Markl deconstructs these symbols, or rather the relationship between the images and their referent, through collages, drawings, sculptures and installations that create a typical estrangement effect, creating a vision that looks both familiar and unknown. The artist sometimes combines references to low or vulgar culture with highbrow culture, as in the case of the IQ drawing series (2009), where the sign 'ROCK' is overlaid on the naked body of a woman, as a homage to conceptual artist Dan Graham-or the sign 'IKEA' is silhouetted against the reproduction of a famous edition of Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment, the Bible for critics of consumer society and mass culture.[1]
His work was widely reviewed by major international press outlets such as Art in America or the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In his exhibition "Peter Builts" in 1997 at Galerie Walcheturm in Zurich he explored thoroughly and precisely the different facets of audio-visual impulses and how they influence contemporary body and mind. His work was compared to Richard Serra's minimal opulence as well as to Richard Prince's aesthetics, which cross the visual signs of everyday life with the insignia of art.[2] This intersection of everyday life, pop culture, criticism and art is the base of his continuous exploration of aesthetic experience and the meaning of artistic creation nowadays.
In principle, he does not participate in-group exhibitions. However, Markl’s works are shown in-group exhibitions. For example, private art collectors lend their art to famous curators to organize public group exhibitions.
Exhibitions
Markl's installations and sculptures have been exhibited in some solo exhibitions and some group exhibitions worldwide.
Selected exhibitions and projects:
Solo exhibitions
- 2014 La Gioia, Maison Particulière - Art Center, Brussels
- 2012 DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM, SSSSS, Berlin [3]
- 2010 Galerie Eva Presenhuber, "One day 1917, while his director was out sick with a hangover, John Ford made his first feature. ...", Zürich [4]
- 2009 AMP Gallery, DR FRANKENSTEIN, Athens
- 2008 Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Link, Zürich
- 2007 Galleria Raucci/Santamaria, MAMATSCHI, Naples
- 2006
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, BROWN, Zurich
Galleria Raucci / Santamaria, SHRUG, Naples
André Schlechtriem Temporary, CALCIUM, New York - 2003 Gruppe Öesterreichische Guggenheim, PETER BUILTS OFFENE RECHNUNG, Vienna
- 1999 Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, THE BIRTH OF peter builts AND THE DEATH OF hugo markl BECAUSE I NO LONGER AM I AM EVERYBODY I AM EVERYTHING, Zurich
- 1998 Galerie am Andechshof, Hugo Markl & Paloma / Installativ und Konzert, Innsbruck
- 1997
Galerie Walcheturm, Intolerance, Zurich
Liste 97 the young art fair, Basel
Galerie Walcheturm, Peter Builts, Zurich - 1996 Austrian Institute, NOSTALHU, London
- 1995 ACME studios for the artists, superapologize 60 min., (major support by the Austrian institute, London), London
- 1994
Galerie Walcheturm, Hugo Markl, Gudrun Enslin, Zurich
Centre d' Art Contemporain, PASSAT, Martigny - 1992 Galerie Walcheturm, Hugo Markl, Zurich
- 1991 Shedhalle, Manum de tabula, Zurich
- 1989 Pinx Galerie, SHIRT, Vienna
- 1987 Universität für Angewandte Kunst, Kieltrunk, Vienna
Group exhibitions
2016
They printed it!, Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich
2014
La Gioia, Maison Particulière - Art Center, Brussels
2012
Un‘espressione geografica, Curated by Francesco Bonami, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy
2010 | 2011
PLUS ULTRA, Works from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection. Curator Francesco Bonami, MACRO Testaccio, Museo D'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
2010
Haus für Kunst Uri, Edition 5, Erstfeld, Switzerland
2009
Hamburger Bahnhof + Flick Collection, DIE KUNST IST SUPER!, Berlin
Galerie Patrick Seguin invites Galerie Eva Presenhuber, We Are Sun-kissed and Snow-blind, Paris
Burger Collection, CONFLICTING TALES, Berlin
2008
Gladstone Gallery, No Information Available, curated by Francesco Bonami, Brussels
Porta di Sant' Agostino, Stultifera Navis, curated by A. Bruciati and M. Tagliafierro, Bergamo, Italy
2007
Yvon Lambert Gallery, Mario Testino‚ At Home, a selection of works chosen and installed by Mario Testino', New York
House Eva Presenhuber, Jubilee Exhibition, Vnà, Switzerland
Palais de Tokyo, The Third Mind, curated by Ugo Rondinone, Paris
2005
Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, INTERSTATE, (curator Adam McEwen), New York
2004
Gruppe Öesterreichische Guggenheim, Kunstverein, ALICE LAENG ZBINDEN und MAX MUSCHER-FÜR GELD MACHEN SIE ALLES, Vienna
2003
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck
Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, BREATHING THE WATER, (curator Ugo Rondinone), Zurich
Gruppe Öesterreichische Guggenheim, Kunstverein, GLÜHWEIN + KESCHTN – Lavuapappn, Vienna
2000
Sammlung Hauser und Wirth, The Oldest Possible Memory, Lokremise, St. Gallen
1998
Museum Moderner Kunst, Stiftung Ludwig, 20 Haus, Die Sammlung, Vienna
1996
Artothek im Parlamentsgebäude, Ausstellung 96, (curator Notburga Coronabless), Vienna
Kunsthaus Zürich, Wunderkammer Öesterreich, (curator Harald Szeemann), Zurich
MAK – Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Austria im Rosennetz, (curator Harald Szeemann), Vienna
Museum Moderner Kunst, Stiftung Ludwig, Coming up, Vienna
Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
1995
Fondazione Querini, Lokalzeit – Wiener Material im Spiegel des Unbehagens, (curator Peter Weibel), Venice
Karin Kilimnik, Galerie Walcheturm, window display by Hugo Markl, no face entertainment row, Zurich
ACME studios for the artists, superapologize 60 min., (major support by the Austrian institute, London), London
1994
Galerie Walcheturm, Eine Galerie stellt sich vor, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
Museum und Galerie Moderner Kunst Laibach, Lokalzeit – Wiener Material im Spiegel des Unbehagens, (curator Peter Weibel), Laibach / SLO
Kunstraum Strohal, Lokalzeit – Wiener Material im Spiegel des Unbehagens, (curator Peter Weibel), Vienna
Galerie im Taxispalais, Art Tirol, (curator Magdalena Hörmann), Innsbruck
Galerie Walcheturm, Passing Through, group show, (curator Ugo Rondinone), Zurich
1993
Centre d' Art Contemporain Martigny, (curator Stefano Germini), Martigny
1991
Shedhalle, Manum de tabula, Zurich
Men, Group Show, Galerie Walcheturm, Zurich
Shedhalle, STILLSTAND switches, Zurich
1990
Group Show, Galerie Walcheturm, Zurich
Galerie Zeitkunst, Aus der Nähe. Aus der Ferne., Innsbruck
1989
Secession, Junge Szene Wien, Vienna
Öesterreichisches Museum des 21. Jahrhunderts, (curator Oswald Oberhuber), Vienna
1988
Galerie Grita Insam, Akte der Beschreibung, (curator Helmut Draxler), Vienna
Galerie Zeitkunst, Innsbruck
Galerie Knoll, Drucke, Vienna
Art market
Markl was represented by Galerie Walcheturm, Zurich; Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, Zurich; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; Galleria Raucci/Santamaria, Naples; André Schlechtriem Contemporary, New York; AMP Gallery, Athens. He's currently represented by DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM, Berlin.
References and further reading
- Folio Publications
- DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM
- Maison Particulière
- They Printed It! A project by Kunsthalle Zürich