NILPFERDE KÖNNEN UNTER WASSER SCHLAFEN

Starting on June 7, 2025, Galerie Monica Ruppert will present a solo exhibition featuring works by Austrian artist Markus Huemer, who lives in Berlin. Huemer's oeuvre spans painting and sculpture, digital art and photography, and extends to the convergence of scientific imagery and art. What stands out in his work is the interplay between aesthetic elegance and creative systematics—an interaction that renders his art particularly impressive.

The exhibition at Galerie Monica Ruppert focuses on his work on canvas. Markus Huemer concentrates on floral motifs and insects—the most species-rich class in the animal kingdom. However, his intent goes beyond a mere representation of nature. The works are grounded in inquiries about how image realities are constructed, and fundamentally: Why do we need images at all? His focus shifts to the processes beneath the visible—to that which exists but remains unseen.

This is where the exhibition begins, structured into two interwoven thematic areas: On one hand, it highlights large-scale oil paintings digitally conceived by Huemer. On the other, he explicitly references the lexicon-like copper engravings of plants and insects from the 17th century by Maria Sibylla Merian—the Frankfurt-born painter and naturalist. Merian’s botanical and entomological illustrations captured the intrinsic connections and metamorphoses in nature, establishing her as a founding figure of entomology. Her works are held in the archives of the Städel Museum.

Artistically, Markus Huemer’s work strikes a remarkable balance between abstraction and realism. His paintings are marked by a reduced palette of black and white, occasionally nuanced with shades of yellow, red, and blue. The paint application varies—sometimes thin and translucent, sometimes matte or glossy. By intentionally avoiding a lush spectrum of colors, Huemer directs the viewer's gaze, bringing form, texture, and symbolic power to the fore. It is a precisely composed staging. Floral elements and the insect world are subtly alienated, yet clearly recognizable as compositional motifs. Nothing appears frayed or diffuse; everything is rendered with clarity and delicate intensity within the visual structure.

Through individually placed color elements—often unobtrusively positioned at the edges of the canvas—additional layers of meaning arise. The essence of the floral and insect worlds begins to oscillate between factual visuality and reflective shimmer. A perceptual in-between space emerges, alluding to something elusive and undefined. According to philosopher Dr. Christoph Durt, such shared, concentrated contemplation can give rise to entirely new insights and ideas. Applied to Markus Huemer’s work, this means it is neither closed nor limited, but rather open to continued exploration in thought and observation.

This is where the titles of the works—and of the exhibition itself—come into play. Clearly, they are not meant as explanations but are conceived as integral parts of the artwork. They serve as a humorous element that, through the contrast between title and image, invites the viewer to reflect—or simply to smile. On the surface, not much happens, and yet the titles add a narrative layer.

Markus Huemer’s works have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums. With a distinct artistic focus, he invites viewers to experience his images from a perspective that embraces the complexity of modernity—always with a touch of subversive or sometimes dark humor.

Dr. Christine Karallus

Also check out other Arts events in Frankfurt, Exhibitions in Frankfurt, Workshops in Frankfurt.