A review of Lago Maggiore by Thomas Huber
“Thomas Huber’s works express the immanence of spaces. Many of his earlier works contained rooms or architectural constructs that assumed both a distance from the viewer and a vivid space, creating their own contextual relations. The space is characterised by symbolic elements and positions that convey a separate reality, detached from our familiar associations. Examining his earlier works reveals the subjectivity of these settings. Different elements shape and serve as vessels of meaning, creating a clamour of dislocated moments, compelling closer inspection due to their distance from the viewer’s immediate position.
Huber’s movement from these earlier works, reminiscent of the brooding architectural sentiment in Giorgio De Chirico’s metaphysical works, towards his 2023 show Lago Maggiore marks a significant development. In the work Heimkehr (2021), we witness a continuation of his previous approach, which appreciates his new location around Lake Lugano. Huber has remarked that his works are intrinsically linked to the material, physical, and cosmological elements of the lake. Its light and the sensual movement of its surface are embodied in the artwork. However, the overarching symbolism of the elements signals the end of something, a death, while also alluding to something beyond.”
