BARBARA HÖLLER: Presence of Lines

Art exhibition

BARBARA HÖLLER, Vienna

"Presence of Lines"

BARBARA HÖLLER, Photo: Daniel Lichterwaldt

BARBARA HÖLLER, Vienna

"Presence of Lines"

Opening: March 13, 2026, 7:30 PM

With the kind support of the City of Graz

Introduction: Mag.a KATIA HUEMER, Curator Kunsthaus Graz

Exhibition: March 14 - extended until September 18, 2026

https://www.barbarahoeller.at/

Exhibition Views

Katia Huemer

on the exhibition Barbara Höller: Presence of Lines

March 13, 2026

A grid acts like a promise of equality and order. It reminds us that every structure is only as stable as we perceive it to be. Precisely in this supposed security, subtle differences become visible. The same appears unequal in the small. In her conceptual painting, Barbara Höller suggests that equality and structure never mean absolute conformity, but rather create a framework within which difference can subtly emerge. Applied to social contexts, something similar becomes apparent: whoever enters a grid, an order, may outwardly fit into a preconceived scheme, but beneath the surface, diversity pulsates. The structure, which actually aims to level, remains outwardly rigid, but at the same time, it thrives on the quiet deviations that shape its interior.

Barbara Höller continuously explores systems and individualization within them in her artistic work. Her artistic career follows a principle as stringent as her works themselves. From the beginning, she chooses complex, constructively conceived approaches, a decision that, as she says, has to do with her "way of thinking, which is abstract and logical." Consequently, she predominantly works in series and blocks of works. An exception are her space-related tape installations, in which she pushes the game with perception to its extreme, a game that evidently gives her pleasure. With a wink, she continues it in the tape or fake series, in which she extends the painting surface on the wall using tape. The allusion to (optical) illusion contained in the title refers to the uncertainties with which our perception of "authenticity" is confronted today more than ever – be it in news, media images, or everyday visual impressions. At the same time, tape or fake reveals itself as a hybrid work: it combines the strict systematics of serial painting with the playful spatiality of Höller's tape installations. The painting surface remains an image, but through the visible tape, it also becomes part of the wall and thus a spatial arrangement. In this superposition of image carrier and installative extension, an intermediate form emerges that consciously blurs the boundaries between painting and installation. On the one hand, it reveals a decidedly conceptual work that addresses its own logic of creation as well as the conditions of its perception; at the same time, tape or fake formulates an ironic commentary that consciously undermines common expectations of the seriousness of conceptual art. Broken Grid (2025), a defined pattern hanging of 16 small-format, square wooden objects in luminous yellow, also follows the principle of breaking out of the pictorial space with the help of tape. The geometric order of the group is traversed by red, right-angled, interrupted lines that appear to be placed randomly. Some of these lines cross the boundaries of the individual panels, extend beyond the edge of the image, and continue on the wall. As I experienced during a studio visit, the alignment of the individual elements is by no means fixed: with a decisive gesture, the artist rotated one of the panels, thus shifting the supposedly immutable order. Even if this physical intervention is hers alone, the work suggests intellectual flexibility. The directions remain open in principle; orientation becomes a possibility, but not a strict guideline. Broken Grid thus shows an order in transition, which proves to be changeable at any time.

The idea of changeability runs through several works. Recall, for example, a two-part acrylic painting on Aludibond, was created from three superimposed line structures whose grids appear regular only at first glance. Minimal shifts create deviations that emphasize the variety of forms of the floating yellow elements. These evade clear fixation; they seem to drift in space and be in a permanent state of change. The work information deliberately includes the addition "changeable" and indicates that the two panels, mounted with minimal spacing, are not fixed to a single arrangement but can also be presented in alternative constellations. The work thus remains open to new spatial relationships and visual interpretations.

As unchangeable and physically indispensable for the cohesion of the world, the instance that Barbara Höller considers the most important assistant alongside color proves to be: gravity. In numerous works, the artist uses gravity to – as she puts it – "send color towards the center of the Earth." In this way, and with different methodological approaches, series of works such as Straight River / Deep Space, Ladder, or Cover the Color are created.

For Straight River / Deep Space, for example, the edge of the image is marked with a dot at a previously defined distance. Höller places the paint nozzle here and leaves the rest to her assistant, gravity. The dot expands into a line as the color runs downwards. However, the fact that this trace runs straight and does not meander is not solely attributable to gravity. Equally decisive are the precisely adjusted consistency of the paint (diluted acrylic lacquer) and the nature of the painting surface (imitation leather) – both carefully tested and prepared by Höller.

The repeated application of paint dots at varying intervals creates a grid, which, however, does not manifest as a strict geometric order. Rather, a structure of overlapping lines emerges, developing a spatial depth and drawing the eye into the image. The supposed strictness of the structure is undermined by the mobility of the color. The grid stabilizes the gaze, while the overlapping lines release it again and lead it into depth. Thus, perception oscillates between order and openness. The works assert clarity and at the same time evade it.

Barbara Höller chooses a comparable method for Ladder: a drop of paint starts at the upper edge of a tilted picture, detaches itself, and runs downwards, extending into a line. By changing the angle of inclination, further run marks can be directed in different directions. Each follows gravity, but each is created under slightly altered conditions. This forms a structure of lines that is not drawn but flowed, unfolding a peculiar spatiality. "The drops run in one direction, like breath detaching from one's own body," Höller describes this process with poetic words – yet at the same time acts as the mathematician she (also) is, because the distances of the origin points follow an exponentially growing series. This shifts the rhythm of the lines from tight compression to increasing width. The system remains calculable, but its visual effect is anything but static: with each additional trace and the subtle color differences that accompany it, the grid expands, gains dynamism, and creates a spatial effect that emerges from a clearly defined mathematical structure. "This type of structuring comes quite close to the construction of a spatial concept," the artist explains her approach. "Painting...