Exhibition in Pasching

Dietmar Brehm: Painting in the “seconds trap”

Dietmar Brehm has been active as both an experimental filmmaker and a visual artist for more than five decades.(Bild: Horst Einöder/Flashpictures)

Our world is made up of logos, signs and symbols. However, Dietmar Brehm, painter and filmmaker, has developed his very own cosmos to express his view of the world and life in symbols. The Galerie in der Schmiede in Pasching is dedicating a remarkable exhibition to this important Austrian artist.

Roses, skulls, self-portraits as if from a comic strip: Dietmar Brehm has developed a whole cosmos of striking graphic symbols for himself and the world. His approach is almost biographical.

He finds signs for inner thoughts, fears and longings in order to explore and depict his own humanity using personal symbolism. His own finiteness is a strong theme.

Pioneer with brush and Super 8 film camera
In his experimental films, he works with short shots, a collection of nightmarish "second traps" that have made Brehm a pioneer of underground aesthetics.

With his image design on canvas and paper - reduced subjects on surfaces of a few, unmixed colors - he has a unique selling point. Here, too, he was always keen to experiment. The winner of the Landeskulturpreis was one of the first artists to make drawings with Edding.

This year, the Lentos Art Museum in Linz purchased eight paintings by Dietmar Brehm. Further works, including prints and photographs, were donated to the city of Linz by the artist.

"Floating" paintings
At the Galerie in der Schmiede in Pasching, visitors can now immerse themselves in the latest series of works. Once again, Brehm asserts himself as a "picture maker", rooted in pop art, who always refers to an inexplicable level. Icons appear on white surfaces in the paintings, these symbols - including the skull - seem to float.

A strong exhibition (until November 15) by a Linz artist who is one of Austria's most important painters.