Brandl Metaphor(m) Book Video

A short slide show of the documentation book for my Painting-Installation "My Metaphor(m), 2013, Jedlitschka Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland.

Link: http://youtu.be/Rw9b13NCUcY

Brandl Vernissage/Opening Painting-Installation Zürich

It is finally the time! After some years in the making, the room-filling painting-installation based on my PhD dissertation is opening at Jedlitschka Gallery in Zurich. You are cordially invited to the opening, I’d love to see you there.

Es ist endlich soweit! Nach einigen Jahren des Entstehens wird die raumfüllende Malerei-Installation, welche auf meiner Doktorarbeit basiert, in der Jedlitschka Gallery in Zürich präsentiert. Du bist / Sie sind zur Vernissage herzlich eingeladen. Es würde mich freuen, dich / Sie da zu begrüssen.

Best,
Mark

--------

Mark Staff Brandl
My Metaphor(m), Painting-Installation
28 Feb. - 18 April, 2013

Vernissage:
28. Februar, 17.00 - 21.00 Uhr
der Künstler ist anwesend
(sowie am Samstag 2. März)
Laudatio: 28. Februar 19.00 Uhr
Dr Philip Ursprung,
Professor für Kunst- und Architekturgeschichte and der ETH Zürich

Künstlergespräch:
Freitag 22. März, 19.00 Uhr
mit Dr Gerhard Mack,
Redaktor für Kunst und Architektur bei der NZZ am Sonntag

Finissage:
Donnerstag, 18. April, 17.00 - 21.00 Uhr
Der Künstler ist anwesend

--------------

Mark Staff Brandl
My Metaphor(m), Painting-Installation
28 Feb. - 18 April, 2013

Opening Reception:
28 Februar, 5 pm - 9 pm
the artist will be present
(as well as on Saturday, 2 March)

Laudatio/Opening Speech: 28 February 7 pm
Dr Philip Ursprung,
Professor Art and Architectur History at the ETH Zürich

Discussion with the Artist:
Friday 22 March, 7 pm
with Dr Gerhard Mack,
Editor and Critic for Art and Architecture at the NZZ am Sonntag

Finissage /Closing Reception:
Thursday, 18 April, 5 pm - 9 pm
The artist will be present.

Brandl, Painting, Eshu

Here is another painting from my upcoming installation in Zurich. It is of Eshu, the spirit of the crossroads in Yorùbá. Also known as Èṣù, Legba, Eleggua and identified with St. Anthony of Padua, Saint Michael or Santo Niño de Atocha in Santería. Èṣù is a spirit of Chaos and Trickery, and plays frequently by leading mortals to temptation and possible tribulation in the hopes that the experience will lead ultimately to their maturation. He is both young and old simultaneously. In my PhD dissertation I replaced the metaphoric figure of Oedipus with Eshu in my rewrite (misprision) of Harold Bloom's theory of misprision.
Oil and enamel on canvas.

One of Eshu's patakis or stories of the faith: "Eshu was walking down a road one day, wearing a hat that was red on one side and black on the other. Sometime after he entered a village which the road went through, the villagers who had seen him began arguing about whether the stranger's hat was black or red. The villagers on one side of the road had only been capable of seeing the black side, and the villagers on the other side had only been capable of seeing the red one. They soon came to blows over the disagreement which caused him to turn back and rebuke them, revealing to them how one's perspective can be as correct as another person's even when they appear to be diametrically opposed to each other. He then left them with a stern warning about how closed-mindedness can cause one to be made a fool."

Articles about Peoria Contemporary Art Center Installation

 

(Click on images to see enlarged versions)

Jetzt auf deutsch: Contemporary Art Center Exhibition: "Meanwhile...." Mark Staff Brandl

Contemporary Art Center Press Release:
“Meanwhile….”  11.Juli - 27. August 2011

Mark Staff Brandl arbeitet zusammen mit Gary Scoles und Thomas Emil Homerin

Das Trio entwickelt und zeichnet vor Ort eine raumübergreifende Comic-Installation. Die Besucher sind eingeladen diesem Prozess beizuwohnen und haben die Möglichkeit, interaktiv mitzuwirken. Die laufende Arbeit von Brandl, Scoles und Homerin wird mittels Video und Fotos laufend dokumentiert. Die Dokumentation ist Bestandteil der Ausstellung.

Vernissage: Samstag 16 Juli 2011, 18.30 bis 210.30

Die Kunsthalle in Peoria, Illinois, USA, bekannt als „The Contemporary Art Center“, lud Mark Staff Brandl letztes Jahr ein, eine seiner "Panels" Installation zu machen. Der Künstler, geboren in Illionois aber wohnhaft in der Schweiz, bemerkte bald, dass dies eine perfekte Möglichkeit wäre, sich einen seit langem gehegten Wunsch zu erfüllen. Er wollte seine beiden Jugendfreunde, Gary Scoles aus Peoria und Emil Homerin aus Rochester New York, als kreatives Team wiedervereinigen, und gemeinsam eine Installation realisieren. Vom 11. Juni bis 16. Juni wird dieser Wunsch wahr. Das Trio realisiert vor Ort in der Peoria Kunsthalle eine "live" Installation.

Brandl, Scoles und Homerin lernten einander 1965 mit 10 Jahren in der fünften Primarschulklasse in Pekin, Illinois kennen. Sie wurden eng befreundet und verbrachten praktisch jeden Samstag während ihrer Zeit im Gymnasium zusammen. Sie waren stets damit beschäftigt, ihre eigenen Superheldencomics zu schreiben und zu zeichnen. Mark und Gary waren die Künstler und Letterer, Emil der Autor und Editor. Obwohl sie sich später in ganz verschiedene Richtungen entwickelt haben, sind sie sind fest befreundet geblieben. Brandl ist bildender Künstler und Kunsthistoriker in der Schweiz, wo er vor kurzem zum Doktor an der Universität Zürich promovierte; Scoles ist pensioniert und arbeitet als Comiczeichner in Peoria; Homerin ist Professor für komparative Religionswissenschaft und Poesie an der Rochester University in New York.

Die geplante Installation wird auf der Basis von Kritzeleien aufgebaut. Brandl und Scoles haben über das letzte Jahr hinweg regelmässig spontane Skizzen in Comics-Stil auf alles Mögliche gezeichnet. Sie sammelten diese Bilder auf alten Couverts und Zetteln, die eher fürs Altpapier bestimmt wären. Sie werden diese jedoch auf die Wände montieren und neue grosse Bilder, Sprechblasen und Zeichnungen hinzufügen. Dies alles unter der auktorialen und redaktionelle Beratung von Homerin, der versuchen wird, ein Narrativ daraus zu schaffen. Die Besucher und Besucherinnen sind eingeladen die „Installation-in-Progress“ zu besichtigen und mit dem Trio ins Gespräch zu kommen. Am Ende der Woche wird die "Panels" Comics-Installation den ganzen Raum umfassen. Und die Aktivitäten werden auf Video, Fotos und in Sektionen von "Meta-Comics" dokumentiert sein.

Mark Staff Brandl kam 1955 in der Nähe von Chicago zur Welt und hat lange Zeit dort gelebt. Seit 1988 ist er in der Schweiz ansässig; wohnt seit 10 Jahren in Trogen AR. Er ist Dozent in Kunstgeschichte und Malerei an der Kunstschule Liechtenstein und der Höheren Fachschule für Bildende Kunst und visuelle Kommunikation in St.Gallen. Seine Ausbildung in Kunst, Kunstgeschichte und Theorie machte er an der University of Illinois, der Illinois State University, der Columbia Pac University und promovierte am 20. Mai 2011 mit magna cum laude an der Universität Zürich als Doktor in Kunstgeschichte. Brandl ist international seit 1980 als Künstler tätig, hat verschiedene Auszeichnungen erhalten und ist mit zahlreichen Publikationen und Ausstellungen an die Öffentlichkeit getreten. Seine künstlerischen Arbeiten wurden unter anderem von Galerien und Museen in der Schweiz, Deutschland, Italien, Ägypten, der Karibik sowie in Städten wie Paris, Moskau, Chicago, Los Angeles, London oder New York gezeigt. Einige seiner Werke wurden vom Museum of Modern Art in New York, dem Whitney Museum in New York, dem Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, dem Victoria und Albert Museum in London, dem Thurgauer Kunstmuseum, dem Kunstmuseum St. Gallen, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, dem International Museum of Cartoon Art, der Graphischen Sammlung der ETH Zürich und anderen aufgenommen.

Vernissage  Samstag 16. Juli 18.30 bis 20.30

Für weitere Auskünfte und Bilder wenden Sie bitte an:

Mark Staff Brandl: www.markstaffbrandl.com/

William Butler, Executive Director,
Contemporary Art Center Peoria
+1 309 674-6822

artcentr@mtco.com

www.peoriacac.org/

Contemporary Art Center Exhibition: "Meanwhile...." Mark Staff Brandl

"Meanwhile...." July 11-August 27 Gallery 3R Mark Staff Brandl with Gary Scoles and Thomas Emil Homerin

The trio creates a comic book installation on site from scratch, eventually enveloping the entire room. Visitors are invited to watch the process and interact with the creators. Their activities are documented in video and photos, also becoming part of the completed exhibition.

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 16, 6:30-8:30 pm

When Mark Staff Brandl of Switzerland was invited to exhibit at the Contemporary Art Center, he realized this would be an opportunity to fulfill a long-held desire to reunite his friends Gary Scoles of Pekin and Emil Homerin of Rochester, New York into an active creative team in order to realize one of his Panels Painting-Installations, utilizing as a springboard the steady stream of comic-related ephemeral sketches and doodles he and Scoles consistently produce. Starting on July 11, the team will convene in Gallery 3R to create the work on site.

The three met in 1965, at the age of 10, in fifth grade at Douglas Primary School in Pekin, Illinois. They became fast friends, spending almost every Saturday and Saturday night together for years, through high school, creating original superhero comic books. Mark and Gary were the artists and letterers, Emil the author and editor. All created their own characters, yet each helped to contribute to and develop the others' ideas. Emil bore the brunt of making narrative sense of them all. Although their lives took them in various directions after high school, the three have remained in contact, sending comics, art and related materials to one another and collaborating on projects.

The installation will commence with a batch of collected comic-art-oriented doodles on various scraps and sizes of paper that Brandl and Scoles will have done and collected over the year prior to the exhibition. These have no planned continuity nor are even consciously link-ed or guided in any way. They will be laid out as well as mounted on the walls and serve as the basis for the event and installation. Then Homerin will concoct a narrative from these, telling the artists what to add, complete, extend, or change. Visitors will be invited to come to the Art Center, watch the process and interact with the creators. After a week, an installation-comic will envelop the whole room. The activities will be documented in a video, photos, perhaps even sections of "meta-comic" where sequences about the creation of the work will become part of the completed exhibition.

The opening reception on Saturday, July 16, 6:30-8:30 pm will also honor Minnesota artist Sally J. Bright in the Preston Jackson Gallery. Food & drink will be provided. Music provided by Paul Adams. Admission is free but a donation is requested.

This exhibit is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Hi-res photos are available.

Mark Staff Brandl: www.markstaffbrandl.com/

William Butler, Executive Director Contemporary Art Center of Peoria 309-674-6822 artcentr@mtco.com www.peoriacac.org

Brandl: Four Works

 

 (click on image to enlarge)

A horizontal-scrolling doc of images of a few of my more recent works. Made for the profile on me at teh Höhee Fachschule Bildende Kunst St Gallen Switzerland.

Heimspiel 09

Heimspiel: endlich mit haupsächlich echte regionale Künstler! Danke Corinne Schatz und Katharina Ammann! --- Grosser Buh-Ruf für Koni Bitterli, der mein Bild halb versteckt und absichtlich belieidigend gehägt hat. Kleinkarierrt. Offentsichlich ist er mmer noch zornig mit mir wenig meine veröffentlichte Kritik von jetzigem Kuratoren-Arroganz?





.

Brandl Interviews Steve Litsios on Podcast Radio

As Richard and Duncan, the main hosts of the well known art podcast Bad at Sports write:

First, Duncan and Richard present a horribly off-track intro which consists largely of talk of herpes and sleeping around. Eventually they get around to discussing what is really important, this week’s show!

Steve Litsios, an artist from La Chaux-de-Fonds in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, is interviewed this week by Mark Staff Brandl. Litsios is known for his vast paper installations, wall objects, smaller sculpture, and web-work, all of which are elegant, restrained, and yet puckish in their surprising flirtation with elements of garishness. His work has recently begun to incorporate political content into his formerly abstract approach. The artist also plays in several roots blues and skiffle bands.

Then, in the closing, Duncan calls out Joseph Mohan. Other wackiness ensues.

Link here.

.

Brian Sherwin: Steve Litsios Interviewed on myartspace

Born in 1959 near Boston, raised in Washington DC, Steve Litsios moved to Switzerland with his family in 1967. He studied art for a couple of years at Geneva's ecole d'arts appliqués before attending the San Francisco Art Institute in the late 70's, then moved back to Switzerland where he has been active internationally as an artist since 1983. He lives in the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds and can be found playing the washboard with The Crawfish Blues Band.

Brian Sherwin: Steve, Mark Staff Brandl introduced me to your work. I understand that you have exhibited with Mark in the past. Have the two of you ever thought about collaborating? Have you? Is that something that you would consider?

Steve Litsios: We collaborated two years ago. I was in a group show at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Neuchâtel in which each artist was asked to invite someone of their choice, and since I was interested in working with Mark I asked him if he wanted to participate.

For that show we ... Read the rest here.

Out of Sequence, Krannert Art Museum Video

A super short (2 min. 35 sec.) TV video clip of the exhibition "Out of Sequence: Under Represented Voices in American Comics," which is on exhibition at the University of Illinois' Krannert Art Museum. This video tours the exhibition with its co-curators, Professor John Jennings and PhD candidate Damian Duffy. Mark Staff Brandl's corner Panels painting-installation and Covers paintings in the spinner rack are prominently featured.
https://youtu.be/e_CFzxdRv7k

Brandl in Chicago and Champaign Art Museum, Soon!

Two invitations: SHARKPIT and KRANNERT ART MUSEUM.

I, Mark Staff Brandl, will be in the US in October and would love to see you -- and show you work. The dates and contact info ---

OPENING (vernissage, apero)
SHARKPIT (Wesley Kimler's Studio)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 16 from 7:30 - 11:00 pm (or so)
a small SHOW of littler works

After that a very large painting-installation in

KRANNERT ART MUSEUM
Champaign, Illinois
THURSDAY OCTOBER 23 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm
(Wherein I will also give a "gallery conversation")

YOU ARE INVITED! Please come to one or both.

More info ---

I will be in Chicago from Monday October 13th through morning of Friday October 17th.

I will be in Champaign, Illinois installing the piece(s) from Friday October 17th through the morning of Saturday October 25th, that day pm I will fly home to Zurich.

I will be staying at:

(In Chicago:)
Wesley Kimler's Studio
2046 W. Carroll
Chicago, IL USA 60612
Shark phone: 312 942-9078


(In Champaign:)
The Lindley House
312 W. Green St.
Urbana, IL 61801
384-4800
Phone: 217-384-4800
www.lindley.cc

I can be contacted through
Wesley Kimler 312 942-9078

Christine Saniat
Assistant Registrar
University of Illinois
Krannert Art Museum
500 E. Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
217.333.2570

or

Chris Schaede
Office Administrator
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Krannert Art Museum MC-592
500 E. Peabody Dr.
Champaign, IL 61820
217.244.0516