Christine & Irene Hohenbüchler

• 23.10.–05.12.2009

Galerie Martin Janda will be showing a new group of works by Christine & Irene Hohenbüchler from 23 October to 5 December 2009. 

On the upper and lower floors of the gallery we are showing new drawings, works on fabric and sculptures by the twin sisters Christine and Irene Hohenbüchler (born in 1964).

Hämatom, to spot … and … Spur, Fleck, Mal … (… Trace, Spot, Mole …) are some of the titles of the works on paper, which combine watercolour painting and calligraphy (all from 2009). The motif of the “spot”, which keeps recurring in the works of the sisters — be it in the shape of the image carrier in some of the works on canvas or as the subject of other pictures — also appears here on the colourful plinths that function as the bases of some rather delicate sculptures. The sculptures derive part of their inspiration from pieces of furniture, yet, positioned on the small, amorphous pedestals, they playfully shake off any sense of functionality and remain poised, in stiffly rigid, straight positions. They may also be seen as representative of people and their psychological states-of-being, thus turning themselves into “figurative plastic art.” They, too, bear inscriptions of words or writing, expanding, in their way, the poetic dramaturgy by new aspects, “injecting”, “delineating”, and creating new translations.
The sewn textile works are reminiscent of abstract painting and complement the exhibition, particularly in their contrastive stance towards the monochromatic, smooth surfaces of the plinths, by adding a further material quality.