Markus Huemer

In his paintings, Markus Huemer explores the intersection of perception and reality in the context of digital media, examining the interaction between image and reality. The exhibition features depictions of nature, including landscapes, plant still lifes, and flower paintings. All of the paintings are based on digital images that have been shared countless times on the internet and social media platforms, despite the artist never having seen the subjects in real life. Other motifs, such as the flower paintings in the exhibition, were 3D-scanned and digitally processed by Huemer.

The aesthetic power of these images of nature, combined with specific visual patterns and the viewer's habits, makes them completely convincing as representations of reality. Given this practice, which is integral to our globally networked information society, questions arise about the authenticity of the images we consume daily and the extent to which media-constructed levels of reality influence the production and appropriation of knowledge and nature. Last but not least, these works also explore the meaning and potential of painting beyond scientific or socio-critical exploitation.

The exhibition comprises approximately 80 paintings from the past 25 years, showcasing the primary bodies of work depicting nature by Markus Huemer. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue which presents this aspect of the artist's work in detail for the first time.