Franz Huemer

„ ...der letzte Rest vom abgespaltenen Paradies"

Everyone in the Vorarlberg region knows Franz Huemer as a wood carver a loner and an eccentric. But behind this image there lies a person who has created a limitless universe which lies somewhere between art and life completely separate from the established art world. Since his first schizophrenic episode when he was a prisoner of war in France he has been collecting all sorts of material from his surroundings, photos of the hills behind his house, pictures from newspapers, roots and other objects from nature. The surfaces of these found objects contain pictorial puzzles of hidden worlds, which have to be revealed by overpainting and carving. People, figures and mystic numbers from Catholic imagery and from displaced artefacts from other belief forms soon emerge giving us new visionary insights. The root sculptures and pictures may not be seen as independent art works even if Franz Huemer  values his creations as such. The works are a means by which he opens up truths which lie hidden behind reality and give him answers to questions about the meaning of life. In this connection between artistic expression, life and scientific work he has created a living work of art which is steadily developing. In the Art Space of Dornbirn the newest insights of this process of discovery are now being presented to the public.

Dorothee Messmer