Art
Henri Maillardet presents Gheorge Fikl´s artworks at Art International Zurich
Henri Maillardet will show the artworks of another Romanian artist at Art International Zurich starting on Thursday night. His name is Gheorghe Fikl.
Gheorge Fikl (born 1968, Timisoara, Romania) is one of Romania’s most original and thought-provoking contemporary artists, firmly established as a master of the neo-Baroque. Interestingly, his early artistic practice in the 90s focused on conceptual mixed-media installations, when he was working with found objects, photography and his own painting interventions. In what he calls a natural inevitability, he gradually moved into a powerful form of the figurative, exploring the imagery and symbolism of animals and decadent spaces.
An artist of exceptional imagination and skill, he developed large-scale paintings, strange, Dadaist-type compositions, where the unexpected contrast of the visual narratives de-stabilize and fascinate the viewer. In
Fikl’s theatrical and disquieting universe, animals take centre-stage: arresting in their mysterious presence, these forceful and gentle creatures – bulls, peacocks, horses, dogs, sheep or butterflies – are the strange inhabitants of surrealist spaces, with aristocratic marble floors and decrepit peasant-house walls. Their underlying violent, disquieting power and hedonism offer just as many contexts for reflection about the inherent tension of our human condition, in historical and personal time.
This new aesthetics soon became Fikl’s trademark and brought him to the attention of art critics and collectors in Romania, where he enjoyed tremendous success. This was followed by several solo shows in Luxembourg, New York, Lisbon and London, which began to open his work to a global audience. His 2017 exhibition at the Ajuda National Museum in Lisbon was a turning point,as it presented the artist in a high-visibility international context, in an art space which had shown work by Joanna Vasconcelos and, immediately after Fikl’s show, a new exhibition by Joan Miro. Gheorghe Fikl’s works have since become part of important private collections in Romania, the United States, Portugal, France, Italy, Andorra, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and Great
Britain – including those of the Prince of Wales Transylvanian collection, The Bonte Foundation,
the Maria Nobrega Foundation and the Gordon Watson collection. He lives and works in Socolari/Timisoara, Romania.
GHEORGHE FIKL Toulouse (Sheep, the Toulouse Series), 2019 Oil on canvas, 204 x 270 cm – credit photo Gheorge Fikl
This work belongs to the Toulouse series which spans over 10 years, following the artist’s 2005 visit to France. The cathedral space has since become a recurrent backdrop and protagonist of several of his paintings. The sheep are seeking shelter but also quite likely are taking over the space from where humans are ambiguously absent. Are the original innocent now turning into a disturbing menace?
Where is it?
Puls 5 – Foundry hall, Giessereistrasse 18
Tram 4, stop Technopark / parking Puls 5, P-West
Dates:1-4 October 2020
Opening hours
- Opening Thursday 1 October, 18:00 – 21:00
- Friday 2 October, 10:00 – 20:00
- Saturday 3 October, 10:00 – 20:00
- Sunday 4 October, 10:00 – 18:00
Admission fees
- Day ticket Friday, Saturday, Sunday: CHF 20 / students CHF 10
- Admission on Thursday: CHF 30
- Free admission with invitation card
- Advance booking at all Ticketcorner sales points and on www.ticketcorner.com
