Roots of Memory - Hubert Scheibl
Images of the Exhibition
Description
Under the exhibition title Roots of Memory, Galerie Wolfgang Jahn in Munich presents recent works from the Ikarus series by Hubert Scheibl, shown in dialogue with additional pieces from recent years. This exhibition offers a concentrated insight into Scheibl’s diverse abstract oeuvre, which—particularly through the Ikarus series—has taken on a new stylistic direction.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses recount the legend of Daedalus and Icarus, father and son, who construct wings made of feathers and wax to escape their enemy, King Minos, by flying out of the labyrinth of the Minotaur. The father warns Icarus not to fly too high and too close to the sun. But Icarus disregards this, soars higher and higher, until the sun's heat melts the wax, loosening the feathers, and leading to his fatal fall into the sea. The traditional interpretation of the myth—“Pride comes before a fall”—sees it as divine punishment for Icarus’ overambitious reach toward the sun.
However, for Hubert Scheibl, Icarus also represents, in his own words, a symbol of upheaval, collapse, and the failure of existing orders and systems—particularly in light of the disruptions, crises, and prevailing uncertainties of our contemporary moment. Sometimes, things must come to an end for something new to emerge.
Though Scheibl’s abstractions in the Ikarus series do not depict narrative scenes, his non-representational forms evoke the emotional drama of the tragedy—a sense of tumbling, falling, and spinning—as well as intuitive hints of wingbeats and the shedding of feathers.
Set against chromatically shimmering color fogs that create backgrounds with a mystical atmosphere—vaguely reminiscent of a radiant sky—Scheibl applies vigorous brushstrokes, painterly accents, streaks and swaths of color, loops, and bands in sweeping, dynamic gestures. In these movements, various hues blend and transition.
Sometimes, the composition condenses into a compressed knot or mass at the top of the canvas, from which smaller color accents seem to rain down. Here, the tension, discomfort, and fear felt by Icarus become palpable. At other times, the composition resembles a dancing procession of colors and forms—like a swirling funnel twisting around its axis. Then again, there are differently colored bands that descend like blinds or curtains, or paint traces that drift like autumn leaves in the wind. Nothing is ever depicted explicitly, yet with knowledge of the title, one might imagine Icarus’ feathers drifting and gliding through the air, or feel the painterly pull of a downward motion.
Scheibl’s impressions and emotional associations with the myth become visually accessible—if the viewer is willing to engage. A comparison to music comes to mind, as it too conveys meaning through composition and tone—terms shared with painting—not through concrete description, but through intuitive, emotional, and ambiguous experience.
This same sense of the indeterminate is also present in Scheibl’s works named after famous cinematic space epics and quotes, such as Solaris (1972), the masterpiece by Andrei Tarkovsky based on the 1961 novel by Stanisław Lem, or the quote “This is a very nice drawing, Dave” from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). In both cases, the works reflect metaphysical-transcendental phenomena that provoke awe and resist clear explanation.
The appearance of these works is shaped by incisions—similar to engravings—that the artist scratches into the uppermost white, monochrome layer, revealing the underlying colors. The arrangement of these lines and color streaks sometimes evokes vegetal structures and the organic process of growth and unfolding. At the same time, one might recall descriptions of the mysterious, reactive ocean on the planet Solaris, which forms its own strange and multicolored surface patterns.
In another series titled Ones, Scheibl presents freely swinging, gestural motion studies, capturing unleashed dynamism on the static medium of the canvas. Often arranged in V- or U-shapes, these forms are the result of a skillful and precisely executed impulse movement, marked by sudden directional shifts. Painted in a single, uninterrupted stroke, they seem to hover weightlessly in the pictorial space, radiating a mysterious vitality that, despite its force, retains a sense of fragility.
Scheibl’s abstractions—analogous to the myth that for him symbolizes the roots of memory—can be read as expressions of the mysterious and often inexplicable. His artistic intent echoes what the renowned physicist Albert Einstein once said of his own experience:
“The most beautiful and profound experience we can have is the sensation of the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. […] It suffices me to contemplate the mystery of conscious life, perpetuating itself through all eternity, to reflect upon the marvelous structure of the universe, which we dimly perceive, and to try humbly to comprehend an infinitesimal part of the intelligence manifested in nature.”
Dr. Veit Ziegelmaier
