"Homo ludens. Art at play: You and I by Thomas Huber"
2002-05-16 until 2002-06-16
Joan Miro Foundation
Barcelona, , ES

The Joan Miró Foundation’s next exhibition is "You and I" by Thomas Huber, part of the "Homo ludens. Art at play" cycle curated by Grazia Quaroni. It is the artist’s first one-man show in Spain and is organised in collaboration with ProHelvetia. The opening will be accompanied by a performance titled The scene. Born in Zurich, Thomas Huber lives and works in Mettmann, Germany. His painting is classical in style and technique but absolutely innovative in concept, as he explores every narrative possibility and every way of representing reality.

The emphasis is on the notion of the pictorial space – a space with a certain depth where a very "different" universe develops in which the radical figures, landscapes and architecture exist in two dimensions, totally unconcerned with what is going on in the so-called "real" world. The piece is not so much a surface as a frontier between the world of appearances and the world of reality. Huber tries to show everything that is happening in front of and behind the picture, seeking a point of contact between the artist’s vision and the viewer’s vision.

In the exhibition in the Espai 13, Huber will be showing four large-format paintings that represent this parallel world in which a small anthropomorphic figure moves from one picture to the other and is finally materialised in the "real world". The figure forms part of the exhibition but is outside the Espai 13, seated beside the pool in the North Patio enjoying the view of Barcelona.

Thomas Huber generally accompanies his exhibitions with performances. These are a burlesque in the form of a lecture during which he explains in immense detail everything that appears in the painting. At the opening of the exhibition he will be giving one of these performances, The stage, relating to the painting of the same name.

Most of Huber’s many exhibitions have taken place in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium, and he has never exhibited in Spain before.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Spain

Other Important Exhibitions in Spain