"Getting Turbulent"

Of central importance for Hubert Schmalix is not to engage primarily with questions of narrative, rather with painting per se. His interest lies with the discussion that arises during painting. The process of painting itself, proceeding in a relaxed and calculated way, is what guides him. Accordingly, he mostly restricts himself to subjects that appear classical – nudes, landscapes, flowers and pictures of cities. These bring with them a whole range of cultural-historical connotations and each of them would have its own sub-history. The great themes of painting history, which have actually already been discussed to their conclusion, surprisingly help the painter today to rid himself of the narrative. In this way, what is really the painterly aspect is able to take centre stage more forcefully. The decision as to which colour should be applied at which place with how much application is more important to the artist than, for example, determining the specific topography of a painted scene. Everything in Schmalix’ pictures is dissolved in surface and contour. As if with building blocks, he adds one aesthetic element to the next, until the picture reaches its conclusion as a matter of course. Mostly, one then feels oneself to be in a kind of idyll, at least in the landscapes; one cannot believe their real contents to be possible, even though every detail exists in exactly this way.1