Hubert Schmalix / Scott Anderson

Hubert Schmalix The work of the Austrian-born artist Hubert Schmalix first became known in the early 1980’s grouped into what was commonly described as the Neue Wilde (New Wild). Discussed in terms of painting with a capital ‘P,’ Schmalix’s paintings—along with those of Mosbacher, Bohatsch, Anzinger and others—were seen as an energized, expressive reaction to the dry, intellectual art climate of the late 1970’s that had decided painting was totally obsolete.

A long time Los Angeles resident, Schmalix, who moved to the city in 1987, continues to pursue painting’s big questions and its classic themes: landscapes, still lifes and nudes. His paintings of his wife, Precy—who the artist has used a subject of his work for many years— are not only a picture of someone, but also an investigation into the practice of painting itself.

Schmalix’s recent solo exhibitions include Thomas Erben Gallery, New York; Krinzinger Gallery, Vienna; Kunstverein Frankfurt; Galerie Belvedere, Vienna; and the Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna. Group exhibitions in the past two years include shows at the Rupertinum, Salzburg; the Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz; and the Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg.

Scott Anderson Long before the Euro, there was Esperanto, a logical language created by Russian physician L.L. Zamenhof in the 1880s. Built from word bases common to the main European languages, it used simple principles consistently. The goal was mistake-free international communication and, ultimately, greater understanding among all humanity. Like most types of 19th century idealism, Esperanto died on the vine. Its legacy, however, lives on mostly in the minds of sci-fi fantasizers, but also in ordinary social observers interested in the growing reach of globalism.

Chicago-based painter Scott Anderson belongs to this group. At Mark Moore Gallery, his L.A. solo debut consists of five mesmerizing oils on canvas, each titled in Esperanto. "Interno Stadiano" (Interior Stadium) and "Artisto Monumento" (Artist Monument) depict a sports field and an outdoor stadium, along with such other easy-to-read objects as a Burmese mountain condo, a Space Age monorail and a cement-banked river.

Many other objects appear in Anderson's representational paintings, but it's difficult to say what they are. Despite an abundance of realistic detail, glowing orbs could be Modernist lamps or miniature biospheres. Radiant screens resemble computer monitors unavailable on Earth. And flexible conduits might be electrical cords, designer plumbing or life-support systems.

Words — in any language — fail to describe the stuff in Anderson's pictures, which appear to be both landscapes and still lifes. Miscommunication thrives.

"Katedro," "Naiva" and "Defluiga Tubo" (respectively, "Pulpit," "Naive" and "Waste Pipe") are even more complicated. Each depicts a mysterious interior that looks as if it were designed for folks who take multi-tasking far more seriously than we do. Painted in a Mannerist palette of high-keyed purples, midnight blues, vibrant oranges and sizzling reds, these strangely inside-out spaces are the mutant offspring of science labs, late-night lounges, intergalactic command centers and high-tech sewer systems. The readily identifiable things in each — sofas, sushi and sound systems — are surrounded by nooks and crannies that open onto galaxies of confusion. Some are jampacked with juicy brushstrokes. Others open onto the void, its inconceivable emptiness mitigated by the skylines of lunar cities and dazzling stars.

Immediate understanding and universal accessibility are the last things Anderson wants from art. Instead, he cultivates illegibility and incomprehension, which stimulate the imagination. Idiosyncrasy and illogic enter the picture, giving an unborn language an afterlife that is peculiarly suited to the present.

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Hubert Schmalix - Painting

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Scott Anderson - Aneksi