Artists

Marcius Galan, Tobias Putrih

Press release

Flags & Barriers is the first joint exhibition by Tobias Putrih (born 1972) and Marcius Galan (born 1971), two outstanding artists from Brazil and Slovenia. Both artists refer directly in their work to architecture and to its social implications.

In his practice, Tobias Putrih frequently engages with artworks in the form of designs, maquettes, or models derived from existing architectural plans and ideas. Inspired by artists such as Buckminster Fuller, Friedrich Kiesler, and Yona Friedman, his materially ephemeral projects explore utopian and visionary concepts of twentieth century design and architecture. He realizes temporary architectural models of public spaces such as cinemas, libraries, and galleries. Putrih’s works are made from versatile, single use, industrially produced materials including MDF, cardboard, paper, monofilaments, polystyrene, and construction scaffolding. He also employs atypical materials such as soap bubble membranes, light, and shadow in order to explore the boundaries between design, architecture, and sculpture.

Since the early 2000s, Marcius Galan has developed a powerful and diverse body of work that includes installations, sculptures, objects, drawings, videos, photographs, and conceptual projects. His strict and precise visual language is inviting and open to layered interpretations. He draws on key reference points in twentieth century art history, ranging from mid century Brazilian Neo Concretism to North American art of the 1960s. His immediate inspirations are rooted in the anonymous experience of large cities. He uses visual communication and architecture as a code for his creations. Galan’s central theme is the concept of space in a broader sense.

Flags & Barriers is an exhibition of outstanding works that also expresses a critical stance toward current social and political developments. The exhibition presents striking lines and surfaces and is not loud, yet it clearly conveys resistance in a world in which social parameters are undergoing profound change.

All works by both artists were created exclusively for this exhibition.

In collaboration with Galerie Gregor Podnar and the Brazilian Embassy in Vienna.