Herbert Hinteregger & Michael Sailstorfer
Fast-slow, loud-quiet, offensive-defensive, maximal-minimal—it would seem that a show combining works by the German artist Michael Sailstorfer and the Austrian artist Herbert Hinteregger could be primarily described using dichotomies.
Indeed, the works of the internationally renowned installation and object artist Michael Sailstorfer often exude an overpowering directness that is difficult to escape. Street lamps are shot over a field from a Mercedes transformed into a catapult, police cars are transformed into percussion instruments, trees meters high hang upside down from the ceiling and sweep the floor, driven by a motor, or a lantern revolves around a blue globe made from an old city bus. Sailstorfer deconstructs, deforms, adapts, and reassembles objects of everyday life in new constellations of meaning and spatial contexts. In so doing, he is interested in the specific stories of the everyday objects used, so that beyond their deconstruction and deformation they are able to trigger a multilayered network of associations. An absurd, oft melancholic comic aspect is almost always inherent in the objects that result. It is almost as if one could trace Sailstorfer’s sentimental endeavor to defy a world that has become complex through the excess of consumer items by way of simple, understandable installations. Access to the works is more shaped by a playful, light pragmatism rather than by highly complex experimental ideas. Despite their aggressive directness, the results are often sculptures with a poetic feel that by including movement, sound, or smell address several senses at once and like organisms come alive expand in the space, indeed take hold of it entirely.
In contrast, the minimalist paintings of Herbert Hinteregger seem initially to play on a quieter claviature. Since the mid-1990s, the Austrian artist has been developing his own idiosyncratic vocabulary of geometric abstraction that has led from grid and network structures with numerous overlappings and breaks, leading to his currently rigorous vertical arrangements of stripes. Whereas Hinteregger experiments with various materials like white or black primer, sandpaper of diverse grains and colors, and different supports such as canvas, burlap, jeans or colored sackcloth, since the beginning of his work ballpoint pen ink has been the dominant material used. In a long and very slow process, the ink dripped from thousands of Bic ballpoint pens is applied in numerous layers to the support with an amazing exactitude. The individual surfaces are set sharply apart from one another using strips of tape that after the end of the painting process are in part removed. The concentrated application of paint not only enables relief structures but a uniquely iridescent surface that makes color variations of light and shadow perceptible. Construction by way of the deconstruction of an industrially made mass product, whereby Hinteregger is not primarily interested in the destructive act, but in the gentle conveyance of materials into a new context and constellation of meaning.
The first joint exhibition of Michael Sailstorfer and Herbert Hinteregger at Georg Kargl BOX reveals not only the differences described at the start, but also astonishing commonalities. Using the height of the exhibition space, Sailstorfer installs an electric motor high above our heads that constantly powers the spinning of a car tire and presses it against the wall. With a permantent engine noise and the acrid smell of burning rubber, the tire is slowly worn away and leaves a fine rubber dust on the floor. On the front wall of the space, Hinteregger in contrast has placed a monumental, finely structured stripe picture on a white wall pedestal so that it is markedly askew. The cube seems to grow directly from the wall, corresponding in its size to the painting, fusing with it and forming it into an object. At the same time, Hinteregger thus both affirms and counters the traditional practices of presenting of art and design objects.
Zeit ist keine Autobahn (Time Is No Highway) is the absurd sounding title of Sailstorfer’s work. Assuming that highways are primarily connoted with speed and considering the extremely slow process of wearing away thee tire, Sailstorfer seems to have had in mind a poetic reflection on dimensions of time and its perception in mind as well as the metamorphosis of things in the world. In Hinteregger’s stripe pictures, time in contrast plays a constructive role, whereby not only a process of artistic emergence but also a process of reception is intended, which, the longer it lasts, leads to surprisingly sensual effects, overlappings, and soft vibrations, comparable to the resonance of strings on a harp.
Should the commonality then be sought in a shared sentiment, an almost romantic longing for the domination of an increasingly complex technologized world that drives the pragmatist Sailstorfer to literally leave traces behind and the sensualist Hinteregger in his self-imposed limitation to flee the world of hurried and hectic consumerism? Actio est reactio according to Newton’s Third Axiom, or the law of action and reaction: forces always manifest themselves in pairs and it is only in the combination that the whole is more than the sum of its individual parts.
Text: Fiona Liewehr
Translation: Brian Currid
Biography
born 1970, lives and works in Kirchberg/AT
2024
Herbert Hinteregger, Zeitkunst Galerie, Kitzbühel
Herbert Hinteregger, Galerie Johann Widauer, Innsbruck
2022
How to (Untitled), Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
TODAY (Untitled), kunsthaus meurz, Mürzzuschlag
Herbert Hinteregger and Anna Kolodziejska, Galerie am Polylog, Wörgl
2021
Herbert Hinteregger, Galerie Johann Widauer, Innsbruck
2020
White overpainted view (Show IV. Waldboden, Forest Floor), Zeitkunstgalerie Kitzbühel, Kitzbühel
Silver Paris Drawings (Show III. Waldboden, Forest Floor), Zeitkunstgalerie Kitzbühel, Kitzbühel
Space one painting (Show II. Waldboden, Forest Floor), Zeitkunstgalerie Kitzbühel, Kitzbühel
Galerie Bernhard Knaus Fine Art, Frankfurt-Main
2019
All over over all (Show I. Waldboden, Forest Floor), Zeitkunstgalerie Kitzbühel, Kitzbühel
Untitled (Kunstschnee), Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
Kunstverein Rosenheim
performance by appointment, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
2017
Untitled (Flow), Kunstverein Heilbronn, Heilbronn
Untitled (Flow), Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
2016
Untitled (Value), RLB Atelier, Lienz
Now on Display, Sammlung Ivo Moser, Innsbruck
2014
Franz Graf/Herbert Hinteregger, Halle Otrans, Kitzbühel
2013
Eve-Level of my Art Dealer, Artissima, Torino
Herbert Hinteregger & Michael Sailstorfer, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
2012
Halle Otrans, Kitzbühel
was, wann, warum, Galeria Antonia Ferrara, Regio Emilia
2010
A sense of disquietude concerning the existing order of things, Herbert Hinteregger and Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
2008
Gasthof Schwarzer Adler, Jochberg
part 2, Galleria Antonio Ferrara, Reggio Emilia
2007
Neue Gemälde, Galerie Bernhard Knaus, Mannheim
Galerie Bernd Kugler (with Lisa Endriss), Innsbruck
2006
all over – store, Georg Kargl permanent, Vienna
2005
Private View, Antonio Ferrara, Reggio Emilia
all over, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz
2004
Gegenstände, Kunstraum Innsbruck/Project Space, Innsbruck
Get the picture, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
2003
ball-pen-ink, Remise Bludenz, Bludenz (curated by Axel Jablonski)
Secrets and dangers, Galerie Bernhard Knaus, Mannheim
2002
Schwamm drüber, kunsthaus muerz, Mürzzuschlag
Antonio Ferrara, Reggio Emilia
2001
Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
2000
Antonio Ferrara, Reggio Emilia
1999
Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Dekoration einer Langeweile, AM&E, Vienna
1997
App.Bxl; App.Bxl, Brussels
1995
Repeat, Trabant, Vienna
Triple Stripe Mural, Depot, Vienna
1994
10 x 10, Galerie Theuretzbacher, Vienna
1993
Wintersaison, Bad Habits, Kirchberg
1992
Kitzbühelerstr. 8, Arena, Kirchberg
Graffiti, Moustache, Kirchberg
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022
Anna Kolodziejska und Herbert Hinteregger, Galerie am POLYGOL, kunst.raum.wörgl, Wörgl
2021
KUNSTBÜHEL, Museum Kitzbühel | Sammlung Alfons Walde, Kitzbühel
2020
Attempt at Rapprochement, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Intermezzo II, Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck
2019
Konkrete Gegenwart, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich
Auf der Kippe. Eine Konfliktgeschichtedes Tabaks, Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum, Innsbruck
2018
Transformation of Geometry, Collections of Siegfried Grauwinkel, Berlin and Miroslav Velfl, Prague, G HMP Prague City Gallery, Prague
20 Jahre RLB Kunstbrücke, RLB Kunstbrücke, Innsbruck
Sammlung der Raiffeisenbank Kitzbühel – St. Johann, Raiffeisen Haus, Kitzbühel
Kunstankäufe der Stadt Innsbruck 2018, Fördergalerie der Stadt Innsbruck, Innsbruck
PIN.Party, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
CONCENTRATION - a tribute, Gesellschaft für projektive Ästhetik, Georg Kargl, Vienna
Recollection, Galeria Poyectos Monclova, Mexico City
20 Jahre, RLB-Kunstbrücke, Innsbruck
La Collection BIC, Le CentQuatre Paris
Reduction, Gesellschaft für projektive Ästhetik, Georg Kargl, Vienna
2017
Remastered - Die Kunst der Aneignung, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems
2016
Abstrakt - Spatial, Kunsthalle Krems, Krems
2015
Transparency, Georg Kargl Fine Arts & BOX, Vienna
Stadt Kunst Innsbruck, Die Sammlung der Stadt Innsbruck, Alte Stadtsäle, Innsbruck
a likeness has blisters, it has that and teeth, Semperdepot, Vienna
Schneesalon, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
2014
Bildwelten der Reduktion, RLB Kunstbrücke, Innsbruck
Endoscopia, Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck
Konkret – Abstrakt, Parlament, Vienna
Sammlung RLB, RLB Atelier, Lienz
2013
Siehe was dich sieht, Franz Graf, 21er Haus, Vienna
Additive Abstraktion, curated by _Martin Prinzhorn, curated by_vienna 2013, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Sammlung Grauwinkel - 30 Jahre Konkrete Kunst (1882-2012), Vasarély Museum, Budapest
2012
Immer Bunter – Aktuelle Malerei aus Österreich, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
Nemesims, by Muntean/Rosenblum, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Sammlung Sigrid und Franz Wojda, MMKK, Klagenfurt
2011
Nemesims, by Muntean/Rosenblum, Frieze Art Fair, London
Killing the system softly, Galleria Antonio Ferrara, Region Emilia Italy
Darling, you sent me, B19, Vienna
2010
Fine Line, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Sammlung der RaiffeisenBank Kitzbühel, Oberndorf
Kunstpreis 2010 der RLB Tirol, RLB Kunstbrücke, Innsbruck
2009
31. Österreichischer Graphikwettbewerb 2009, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
Alpen-Adria-Galerie, Klagenfurt; Südtiroler Kulturinstitut, Bolzano
Fairly Abstract, Galerie Zink, Munich
THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE, BUT THE SHOW MUST GO ON, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck
2008
Vom Schnee, Museum Kitzbühel, Kitzbühel
warum so wenig, Kunstverein, Murau
12 works on paper, Galerie Bernd Kugler, Innsbruck
Ankäufe, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck
2007
...und immer fehlt mir was, und das quält mich, Atelier Färbergasse, Vienna
Statement, Bernhard Knaus Fine Art, Frankfurt am Main
White Painting and Curtain, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna
2006
Ca. 1000 m2Tiroler Kunst, ehem. Kaufhaus Tyrol, Innsbruck
Erwin Bohatsch und Student/innen, Investkredit Bank AG, Vienna
2005
Nach Rokytník, die Sammlung der EVN, MUMOK Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
Lines and Traces, Galerie Bernhard Knaus, Mannheim
Good Timing, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
The Red Thread, Howard House Gallery, Seattle, Educational Alliance Gallery, New York
2004
From Above, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Vienna Coffee Table, Galerie Bernhard Knaus, Mannheim
2003
Summer Holidays, Galerie Bernhard Knaus, Mannheim
Außer Atem. Fokus österreichische Malerei, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden
Re-Production 2, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
2002
Collector’s Choice – Sammlung Ploil, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz
Variable Stücke, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
Blobs, wiggles and dots…, The Work Space, New York
steirischer herbst 2002, steirischer herbst, Graz
2001
Pittura austriae I/III, Kunstforum beim Rathaus, Hallein
Zusammenhänge im Biotop Kunst, kunsthaus muerz, Mürzzuschlag
steirischer herbst 2001, steirischer herbst, Graz
2000
Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv
New Austrian Spotlight, Universität Marmara, Istanbul
Focus on…, Venetia Kapernekas Fine Arts, New York
1999
Weg aus dem Bild, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
Prepared, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
1998
Malerei, Galerie Mezzanin, Vienna
Notas al Margen, Corp Balmaceda 1215, Santiago de Chile
1997
Bücherraum (Franz Graf), kunsthaus muerz, Mürzzuschlag
Träbanta, Trabant, Vienna
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