vis-à-vis, 2014

Basel 2017
vis-à-vis

Skopia / P.-H. Jaccaud

Painting
oil on canvas
The paintings of Thomas Huber unveil an ironic and imaginary world. His oeuvre plays with a complex process of symbolizing, using sophisticated techniques in representation: simultaneous temporalities and the presence of various, seemingly contradictory elements in illusory spaces, between classical and utopian architecture. His work fundamentally questions the possibility of representation. The spectator is at the same time excluded from and included in his paintings. The canvas determines the point of encounter between the painting’s own visible reality and the hidden depths of the image, this mise en abyme underlining its enigma. For Huber, the image is also a social place, making space for the encounter with the spectator. Four paintings show a space divided into a red zone and a blue zone. The observer is in an imaginary field between the images, as much in front of the images as in the midst of a represented image-space.