Galleria Torbandena presents the new works of Hubert Scheibl, the artist from Vienna who pertains to the abstract-expressionist tradition of Central Europe. His first exhibition in Italy (Austria Ferix - la nuova pittura austriaca) more than twenty years ago was presented by Galleria Torbandena, extended for the occasion to several museums' show rooms. The artist is coming back to Italy, after the solo exhibitions at Mazzoli, Gian Ferrari and Museo Pecci in Prato, with a brilliant curriculum.

The multicolor whirls of material from the eighties inserted him into the group of young Austrian talents who kept the attention of high calibre critics as Giovanni Testori and Dan Cameron as well as important gallerists like Thaddaeus Ropac and Jack Tilton. Today these multicolor whirls seem to become rationalized or, better, synthesized in a more selected chromatic formula, technically sharper, sometimes tending to monochrome but never missing the contact with the expressive strength of the paint. Paintings are rendered in a still more emotional way than the gestures of its traces, nearly cuts going from side to side of the canvas, freely, conferring to the works tension and mysticism at the same time.

By comparing the works from the eighties and nineties with the new paintings, one can think of a celebration, with less guests but with greater charisma. The guests are the colours, the host is Hubert who make colours communicate between them, enjoying the deepness and the best issues of every one of them. It is a joy which manifests on canvases like Where else, Memex or Pardes R, distant from them they can look austere, but trying to hear them, one cannot miss the buzz of the voices, the smell of the wine, the irony of a joke, the music (that of Tosca and Peace Orchestra), the discussions of cinema, that of Kubrick.

The exhibition dedicates an area to works on paper, which are an important part of the artist's work. A particular series is entitled Psychonautiker, a journey in his inner world, rich of formal freedom and self-irony.

In the last years the works of Scheibl has been exhibited in different museums and foundations all over the world, from the Biennale of San Paulo and Fundacion la Caixa at Barcelona, to the Shangai Modern Art Museum, Museo Pecci in Prato as well as in the Rupertinum of Salzburg. The Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, which internationally represents the artist from long time ago and the Toni Shafrazi Gallery in New York are some of the private spaces with which the artist has collaborated during his career.

The Galleria Torbandena will publish a catalogue which collects the works of the exhibition.

Opening: May 11, 2007, 7.00 pm

Timetable: Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 1 pm and 4 pm - 7.30 pm.