Hugo Markl’s work examines the imagery of consumer society and popular culture, incorporating elements such as media images, logos, fashion magazines, traffic signs, and culturally significant objects like the Winchester rifle. Through collages, drawings, sculptures, and installations, Markl explores the relationship between images and their meanings, often juxtaposing references from both low and high culture. For example, his IQ drawing series (2009) combines text and imagery, such as overlaying the word "ROCK" on a nude figure or the IKEA logo with a reproduction of Horkheimer and Adorno'sDialectic of Enlightenment.[1]
Markl’s work has been discussed in publications including Art in America and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In his 1997 exhibition Peter Builts at Galerie Walcheturm in Zurich, he explored the impact of audio-visual stimuli on contemporary perception. His work was compared to Richard Serra's minimal opulence and Richard Prince's aesthetics, for engaging with themes of aesthetic experience and the cultural significance of artistic creation.[2]
2003 - Gruppe Öesterreichische Guggenheim, PETER BUILTS OFFENE RECHNUNG, Vienna
1999 - Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, The Birth of Peter Builts and the Death of Hugo Markl Because I No Longer Am I Am Everybody I Am Everything, Zurich
1998 - Galerie am Andechshof, Hugo Markl & Paloma / Installativ und Konzert, Innsbruck
1997 - Liste 97 the young art fair, Basel
1996 - Austrian Institute, NOSTALHU, London
1995 - ACME studios for the artists, superapologize 60 min., (major support by the Austrian institute, London), London
1994 - Galerie Walcheturm, Hugo Markl, Gudrun Enslin, Zurich
2010 | 2011 - PLUS ULTRA, Works from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Collection. Museo D'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
2010 - Haus für Kunst Uri, Edition 5, Erstfeld, Switzerland
2009 - Hamburger Bahnhof + Flick Collection, DIE KUNST IST SUPER!, Berlin
2009 - Galerie Patrick Seguin invites Galerie Eva Presenhuber, We Are Sun-kissed and Snow-blind, Paris
2009 - Burger Collection, CONFLICTING TALES, Berlin
2008 - Gladstone Gallery, No Information Available, curated by Francesco Bonami, Brussels
2007 - Yvon Lambert Gallery, Mario Testino‚ At Home, New York - House Eva Presenhuber, Jubilee Exhibition, Vnà, Switzerland - Palais de Tokyo, The Third Mind, curated by Ugo Rondinone, Paris
2005 - Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, INTERSTATE, New York
1996 - Artothek im Parlamentsgebäude, Ausstellung 96, Vienna - Kunsthaus Zürich, Wunderkammer Öesterreich, Zurich - MAK – Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Austria im Rosennetz, Vienna - Museum Moderner Kunst, Stiftung Ludwig, Coming up, Vienna - Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck
1995 - Fondazione Querini, Lokalzeit – Wiener Material im Spiegel des Unbehagens, (curator Peter Weibel), Venice - Karin Kilimnik, Galerie Walcheturm, window display by Hugo Markl, no face entertainment row, Zurich - ACME studios for the artists, superapologize 60 min., (major support by the Austrian institute, London), London
1994 - Museum und Galerie Moderner Kunst Laibach, Lokalzeit – Wiener Material im Spiegel des Unbehagens, Laibach / SLO - Kunstraum Strohal, Lokalzeit – Wiener Material im Spiegel des Unbehagens, Vienna - Galerie im Taxispalais, Art Tirol, Innsbruck
1993 - Centre d' Art Contemporain Martigny, Martigny
[1] The catalogue 'The Birth of Peter Builts and the Death of Hugo Markl Because I No Longer Am I Am Everybody I Am Everything' was published on the occasion of Hugo Markl's solo exhibition at Galerie Hauser & Wirth & Presenhuber, Zurich, April 6 to May 15, 1999. The catalogue was first published in 2001: ISBN9783852561660.
[2] Hugo Markl, SSSSS, October 18 – November 24, 2012, Dittrich & Schlechtriem, Berlin, Germany; Author: Alexander Forbes.
[5][6][7] Art in America; Hugo Markl by Quinn Latimer.
[8] Galleries, Feb 1,2008 – This result seems relevant to this search, although it typically appears in searches outside the United States. The conceptual artist presents medium-sized, blue-painted aluminum sculptures that are not intended to contain any art historical references: Hugo Markl, solo exhibition “Link”, date, January 26 – March 1, 2008, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland.
[9] Alexandre Bianchini - Willem Cole - Patrick Corillon - Hugo Markl - Truls Melin - Kay Rosen : Manum de tabula. Author: Lux, Harm ISBN3907830040 Year: 1991 Publisher: Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland.
[10] Artist's book by Hugo Markl: "An artist is abducted by tourists and taken to a castle. He is asked to construct a work of art with the materials put at his disposal.The finished creation is arranged according to the tourists' taste for a party." Book title: "Nostal Hu": Language: English, German. Published by Austrian Cultural Institute, London, 1996.
[11] "One day 1917, while his director was out sick with a hangover, John Ford made his first feature. ...", 2010. Within every tradition, overcoming artistic and intellectual key works has been characterized by mixing facts with fiction. Contemporary Art Library.
[12] Catalogue Sotheby's - Note on Hugo Markl's "Ghostsheets", drawings on paper, 2001-2003.
[13] Arts Journal | Modern Art Notes | Hugo Markl at Andre Schlechtriem: Hugo Markl at Andre Schlechtriem: "Markl's four-rectangle, marker pen-on-paper grids recall Sol LeWitt's ubiquitous colorful squares. But instead of lock-stepping into LeWitt's rigid systems, Markl begins to reject them, questioning order, classification and rigidity. The result is colorful bursts of vaguely ordered disorder. The hint of an underlying system remains, but it's being interrupted by wavy lines, seemingly random black horizontals, the inability of lines to remain parallel to each other. A subtle metaphor for a world watching systems -- from Enron to global climate -- collapse?"
[14] Google Scholar: Quinn Latimer - 2010 - Art in America, Hugo Markl "I've copied folk art that will never become folk art," Hugo Markl once remarked about his work.
[15] Juri Steiner, Neue Zuercher Zeitung, 05.02.1997, S. 50 | Idée fixe im Rosennetz Hugo Markl, ein US-Österreicher in der Galerie Walcheturm.
[16] Ralf Beil, NZZ, 14.06.1997 | Der Charme des Anarchischen "The Young Art Fair" in Basel.
[17] Martin Allioth, Neue Zürcher Zeitung (International), 17.09.1994 | Protestkunst – Protest gegen die Kunst – phi. "Hugo Markl, Gudrun Ensslin" lautet der Titel der derzeitigen Ausstellung in der Galerie Walcheturm.
