Norbert Pümpel
Norbert Pümpel is a visual artist who lives and works in Götzis and Hohenems/Austria.
Biography
Norbert Pümpel's artistic career began with concept art at the end of the 1970s. He decided not to attend an academy of art and instead studied mathematics, physics and philosophy. As an autodidact, he developed pictorial concepts at the interface with the sciences. "For decades, Pümpel has been addressing philosophical and scientific questions, which are given pictorial form in his conceptual-oriented art. His thinking is determined by problems of time and space, which have been an intensive subject of art since the early 20th century, the materiality of manifestations, questions of quantum physics and the theory of probability." His works have included entropic drawings, laser projects and work on the theory of black holes and Schrödinger's cat paradox.Reality has evaporated
“Since the 1970s he has developed an art that operates at the interface of natural science, philosophy and theology, circling – on continually spiraling paths of thought – the old question of the possibility and the limits of human knowledge and, by extension, orbiting the potential of the image and its powers compared with reality."
What are at first questions of physics give way more and more to problems of philosophy and the theory of knowledge. It is evident that the artist, as a part of the universe, reflects on it and on himself: “Part of Universe Reflecting Part of Universe”, a series of small diptychs first shown in the “Kraftwerk Peripher” exhibition organized by Christoph Bertsch in the Imst/Au power station. Some of the works now form part of the Liaunig Collection.
Peace policy is a frequent topic in Norbert Pümpel’s work, starting with the monumental drawing “Probability Statement on a Guernica in the Late 20th Century”. “In 1982, when N. Pümpel developed an infinite panorama of entropy under the title ‘Probability Statement on a Guernica in the Late 20th Century’, he simultaneously defined the beginning and endpoint for his future art. So completely had the artist eliminated the visible with his radical statement about the potential consequences of theory become practice, so fundamentally destroyed all form in shaping shapelessness, that – having depicted the irreversible state of chaos – there remained nothing capable of depiction. The very framework of matter had shattered and been dissolved once and for all in universal disorder. At an early point in his biography, therefore, the artist had adopted an extreme position with his views of nothingness, with an uncompromising message that could not but call into question any further form of constructive work.”
The nuclear threat is also a recurrent subject with Pümpel the physicist. In 1989 he created the first Scientific Disaster Series, his first ash works on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Between 2009 and 2011, too, Pümpel created large-format paper works under the title “Nuclear Solstice” on the subject of the nuclear tests conducted in the 1940s and 50s. Five large works from this group are now in the Liaunig Collection.
In his latest series of works, entitled “Condensates”, Pümpel returns to the working methods of the natural sciences, employing laboratory-style test series to develop self-organizing image systems. “The works describe states of probability, blurring all spatial structures in new aggregate states and creating a liquid, fleeting, wave-dynamic image of the world.”
From 1992 to 2002 Member of the Cultural Council of the Tyrolean State Government. In 2008 he moved to Götzis/Vorarlberg/Austria. In 2010 he was awarded with the Gold Medal for Merit to the Republic of Austria. From 2010 to 2016 he was a member of the Executive Board of the Professional Association of Visual Artists in Vorarlberg. 2011 opened a new studio in Hohenems, Austria.
University teaching
- 1981: Lecture at the Sky Art Conference Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge Mass.
- 1991: Lecture on Sculpture Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck
- 1994/95 Lecture Space in Contemporary Art Leopold Franzens Universität Innsbruck
Introduction
Major works
- Hammerschlag Nr. 2, 1978 Series in three parts; ca. 90 x 190 cm, exhibited: Galerie Krinzinger Innsbruck 1979, and Bregenz Palais Thurn und Taxis, 1979; published in: Peter Weiermair, Medium Zeichnung, Allerheiligenpresse Innsbruck 1979, and J.M. Seebacher, Wahrnehmen, Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz, 1979
- Stars and Stripes Projekt, 1981 6 Picture groups of four parts, mixed media and collage on primed paper, 100 x 276 cm to 100 x 1075 cm, exhibited and published in "Künstler aus Tirol", Pécsi Galéria, Pecs, 1986;
- Probability Statement to a Guernica in the Late 20th Century, 1982 24 parts- Installation, 291 x 929,6 cm; exhibites ati "Zukunftsräume – Bildwelten und Weltbilder der Science Fiction", curated by Harald Kimpel, Orangerie, Kassel, 29. 4. bis 17. 6. 1984 and "Zukunftsräume – Bildwelten und Weltbilder der Science Fiction" Erlangen, Städtische Galerie in summer 1984 and also at "Die Vertikale Gefahr. Luftkrieg in der Kunst" , documenta- Halle Kassel, 24. 9. bis 31. 10. 1993 as well as at the personal exhibition "Wahrscheinliche Aussage zu einem Guernica des späten 20. Jahrhunderts" at the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck, 28. 1. bis 20. 2. 2005 published in: Die vertikale Gefahr, Luftkrieg in der Kunst, Marburg 1993 and in Zona Ovest, Skarabäus Studienverlag, Innsbruck, Wien, München 2007 und in Kunst in Tirol, P: Naredi-Rainer, L. Madersbacher, Innsbruck 2007
- Das Große Stadion, 1983 mixed media on primed paper, 3 parts: 126 x 210 cm. Exhibited 1984 at „Orwell und die Gegenwart“ in the Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts in Wien
- Heinrich – Heine – Zyklus, 1986 Series of 14 parts, each: 126 x 90 cm, published in: N. Pümpel, Arbeiten 1977–87, Landeck, 1987
- White Fire Curtain, 1990 Egg tempera and ashes on canvas, 190 x 250 cm published in: Harald Kimpel, Die Schwerkraft der Bilder, N. Pümpels kreativer Beitrag zur Theorie der unterlassenen Praxis, in: N. Pümpel, 238,0289, Arbeiten über die universellen Naturkonstanten und die Atombombe, Landeck, 1990 exhibited and published in: Harald Kimpel; Der Luftkrieg in der Kunst, Kassel, documenta Halle, 1993
- Apricot Disaster 2009, mixed media on paper, 154 x 114 cm
- Scientific Disaster No III, 1990 Egg tempera, cadmiumred and ashes on canvas, 120 x 125 cm exhibited at "Caution – Art" at the Thomas Segal Gallery Boston, 1991
- Part of Universe Reflecting Part of Universe, 2003 Four-part work on canvas on wood, 60 x 204 cm, exhibited and published in: Kraftwerk Peripher,Imst-Au, 2004 and at “Realität und Abstraktion 2“ Museum Liaunig, 2012
- Dark Lightning 2011, mixed media on paper 154 x 114 cm
- Devastated Land and South Pacific Winter Series, 2012 – 2013
- Indeterminate Land, 2012 – 2015
And in general, the indeterminate and fortuitous form part of the working method of Norbert Pümpel, in whose studio the sheets of paper and canvases develop over weeks and months as in a test series in a laboratory. The artist seems to set in motion processes for organisation and decision-making. He uses oils, bitumen and various solutions on very thin Chinese rice paper and on canvas.
- Objects on Wittgenstein, 2011 – 2013
- Fleeting Memorials, 2012 – 2015
The works are subject to visible change in the course of time. Thanks to the materials used, the paper and the colours darken in the first twenty, thirty years. The paper will start to become brittle until, after a hundred years or so, it will perhaps disintegrate. The processes cannot be calculated precisely as they depend on environmental factors relating to the air, humidity and light
- Condensates 2013 – 2015
- Objects 2016 - 2017
Exhibitions
- 1979 Europa 79, Stuttgart/Ger. Curated by Hans-Jürgen Müller, Ursula Schurr and Max Hetzler, with Tony Cragg, Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente and others
- 1984 Orwell und die Gegenwart, Museum of the 20th Century in Vienna/A, with Jochen Gerz, Jörg Immendorff, Robert Morris, Roy Lichtenstein and others;
- 1985 Wahrscheinliche Bilder, First one man museum exhibition in the State and Municipal Art Collections, the Bellevue Palace, Kassel, Germany.
- 1992 Concept Space, Shibukawa, Japan
- 1993 Die Vertikale Gefahr. Der Luftkrieg in der Kunst, Kassel documenta Halle, with Günther Uecker, Gerhard Richter, Arnulf Rainer and others;
- 1996 Dies ist kein Bild, Galerie St. Barbara Osterfestival Innsbruck/A
- 1997 Entgegen – religion.gedächtnis.körper, Graz, with Anish Kapoor, Roman Opalka, Joseph Beuys;
- 1999 Objective and Observed Files, Concept Space, Shibukawa, Japan
- 2002 Micro Stills, Concept Space, Shibukawa, Japan
- 2003 Sharjah Art Museum and Expo Centre, Sharja/ Unites Arab Emirates, 6th International Art Biennial, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- 2005 Probability Satement to Guernica in the Late 20th Century, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck
- 2006 SCIENTIFIC DISASTER – The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Paintings, Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck
- 2007 Zona Ovest, Biblioteca National, Turin/Italy with Lois and Franziska Weinberger, Peter Kogler, Elmar Trenkwalder, Flatz, Gottfried Bechtold and others. Curator: Christoph Bertsch,,
- 2011 Schädelstätten Hamlet Syndrom, Marburg/Germany, Kunstverein, curated by Harald Kimpel
- 2011 No-one in Paradise, Imst Städtische Galerie Theodor von Hörmann
- 2012 Realität und Abstraktion 2. Konkrete und reduktive Tendenzen ab 1990, Museum Liaunig, Neuhaus/Suha
- 2012: Accrochage, Galerie Lindner, Vienna, Austria
- 2013 Von der Fläche zum Raum, Museum Liaunig, Neuhaus/Suha
- 2013 Unbestimmtes Land, Galerie Rhomberg, Innsbruck
- 2014 Acht ohne Gegenstand, with Hubert Lampert, Tone Fink, Franz Türtscher and others, Otten Kunstraum, Hohenems
- 2014 art@science, with Ingrid Hermentin and Ulysses Belz, Marburger Kunstverein, Marburg
- 2016 Augen-Blicke, Neuerwerbungen, Museum Liaunig, Neuhaus/Suha
- 2016 Man kann auch ganz burleske Fälle konstruieren..., Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz
- 2016 Fleeting Memorials, Bildraum 01, Vienna
- 2017 Out of Silence, Concept Space and Concept Space R2, with Atsuo Hukuda. First time the Fleeting Memorials are shown in Japan
- 2017 Modell der Wirklichkeit, Kunstraum Pettneu
Honours
- : Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria
- Ehrenkreuz des Landes Tirol