Exhibition will be opened by Dr. Erwin Koler, head of the Tyrolean government’s office for cultural affairs
Introduction to the exhibition by Stephen Foster, director of the John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton

Hans Scheirl is a painter and filmmaker. His oversized paintings, applied directly to the wall or on canvas, are composed of playful elements deliberately reduced to regressive forms symbolizing sexuality, transgenderism, hermaphroditism and physical transformation. A key color for Scheirl is brown which he sees as a metaphor for blending; it is also the color that emerges when the three primary colors are mixed.

Scheirl’s always witty, comic-like, neo-pop use of colors and formal codes for expressing sexuality also represents a performative act in which he addresses his own history. Born as Angela, he has also worked with issues of sexuality and gender as a filmmaker since the early 1980’s.

In 1991 he created the film Rote Ohren fetzen durch Asche (Flaming Ears), together with Ursula Pürrer and Dietmar Schipek. In the Dandy Dust project (1992-1998) Scheirl was entirely responsible for the book, directing and production. In 1995 Scheirl turned to painting and from 2001 to 2003 he studied painting at St. Martins College in London where has been living since 1991.

In his exhibition “Hans im Taxi – Inneneier Begleitprogramm” (his exhibition shown at the Kunstraum <auto> in Vienna was titled “Hans im Auto”), Scheirl refers directly to the space of the Galerie im Taxispalais. The glass-covered hall of the Galerie located on the lower floor has been transformed into a painterly space. In addition to large, hanging canvases, there are forms painted directly on the walls that create the real and symbolic background for numerous small paintings. A number of painted canvases have been placed in the space as constructive elements, accentuating the 3-dimensional quality of his painting as well as its performative aspects. Thereby Scheirl is creating a sort of painterly film set for the audience and a snowy mountain made of papier mâché.

In a different part of the Galerie, the vaulted cellar space of the Galerie, Scheirl has worked directly onto the wall. In addition he is showing a series of drawings.

As part of the exhibition the Galerie and the Innsbrucker Cinematograph cinema will be screening Scheirl’s films which have been shown at a number of festivals. Here the painting-specific qualities of his films become particularly evident in interplay with his painted work.

Hans Scheirl lives and works in Vienna.

Film program
Cinematograph, Innsbruck
Friday, March 17, and Sunday, March 19, 2006 

Dandy Dust, 1998, GB/A
Producer, director, writer and performance: Hans Scheirl, 16 mm, 94 min.
Dandy Dust is a science fiction horror film in which a hermaphrodite cyborg embarks upon a crusade against his monstrous family.

Lecture and film screening
Galerie im Taxipalais
Saturday, March 18, 2006, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Hans Scheirl and Ursula Pürrer speak about the films they produced together

Super-8 short films 1984-1985:
Gezacktes Rinnsal schleicht sich schamlos schenkelnässend an
Das Schwarze Herz tropt – Bastelanleitung zu –rinnen
Super-8-Girl Games
etc.

Rote Ohren fetzen durch Asche, 1991, A
Directed by Ursula Pürrer, Dietmar Schipek, Hans Scheirl, 16mm, 84 min.
In 2700 three extreme figures – the pyromaniac Volley, Nun (a nun) and the comics designer Spy meet each other…

GThanks go to
BKA department of art, Dr. Maren Gröning, Jakob Knebl, Viktoria Tremmel, Heidi Harsieber