WINTERSALON 05
Sylvie Proidl
Christine Hohenberg
Helga Petrau-Heinzel

Opening:
November 23, 2006   7pm
open:
November 24-25, 2006   2-8pm

Studio Sylvie Proidl
Schottenfeldgasse 76/2
A-1070 Vienna

Natura morta… is the topic of WINTERSALON 05, which focuses on the question whether nature still exists in its full beauty and glory, or whether it is destined to disappear in the near future. Three artists - a painter, a photographer and a sculptor - provide artistic statements on this fundamental dichotomy.
The district's mayor Mag. Thomas Blimlinger opens the exhibition, the group Coco plays "Nature is Dead", an experimental music about still life.
Uniquely individual, abused, broken, forgotten - these are the associations that provoke the photographic work of Christine Hohenberg; nature in a decadent setting - preserved as a rarity, eliminated as an obstacle, and yet, if damned to evanescence, dignified in how it fades away. The diversity of forms lacks any human norms, except for destruction. The black & white images invite the visitor to perceive this message.
Helga Petrau-Heinzel on the works (sized paper and wire) she is showing: "In my cynical, evil dream, crushed beetles cling to my shoes, … with insects flying and creeping, amphibians in hot pursuit, winding around my shoulders in a horrible entity, presenting themselves as "natura morta", replete with horror and beauty."
Sylvie Proidl is showing paintings from the cycle "Les jardins heureux", a fictitious location full of harmony between humans and nature. These new paintings, fresh from an exhibition in Algiers, show a cross section of our planet's endangered habitats and alternate with prehistoric Tuareg rock paintings.

Photography: Hohenberg, Studio Proidl