Alain Huck

Darkness of Heart

January 10, 2020 - February 28, 2020
Opening: January 9, 2020 | 18:00

Press Release

MLF l Marie-Laure Fleisch is pleased to announce Alain Huck’s first solo exhibition in Belgium, Darkness of Heart. The series of works presented are exemplary of the artist’s ongoing investigations into man’s place in the world, and the often-destructive tendencies we have on our environment. Using a quote from Joseph Conrad’s eponymous 1899 novel as his primary inspiration for this exhibition, Huck questions what we know of the soul and how language and communication can skew one’s knowledge of the self. Conrad writes “his intelligence was perfectly clear… but his soul was mad”. Interested in this battle between good and bad, between heart and head, Huck looks into our own humanity, which often displays both destructive and poetic tendencies. This is investigated through a selection of unique works on paper, editions, and a video work.

Often inspired by literature and mythology, Huck’s most recent series of text-inspired drawings meets the visitor upon entering the gallery. “The dozen or so landscapes drawn in pencil by the Swiss artist are the result of his re-reading of “Heart of Darkness”[...]. Using views taken from Google Earth, Alain Huck has retraced the windings of the Congo river, which is central to the novel. The banks of the river have been rendered visible by copying the text in its entirety, starting from the end. Like the novel’s hero, who advances the deltas in a lucid and somewhat uncomfortable manner, Alain Huck takes the story with critical distance. He goes backwards, starting from the last word until the first, going from the end of the adventure to its beginning. On the page, the words are placed where the water does not run, drawing the landscape while revealing the deltas of the river through the white of the paper. The transcription of the text traces hollow rhizomes, vines of water, the wild flow. These unorganized markings reveal their author’s profound desire for freedom, rendering palpable the complexity of his being and his refusal to submit to the power of the Belgian invaders. It is impossible not to think of the impossibly straight borders of the African colonies – as if traced with a ruler, which Alain Huck opposes here with the force of untamed nature.” - Julie Enckell Juillard

Reflecting these works are two large-scale drawings, Exit Lingua and Culpa, on which the images are constructed through a process of protection, where the figurative elements are preserved as the artist covers the work in graphite lines. They also imply the tension between the thought process and the physical manifestation of mental activity. Words are seen as a protrusion from the body, with even the tongue becoming a foreign element which seems to belong to another being. In Culpa, the head emerges as a large, empty, bubble. In Exit Lingua, an oversized, foreign-seeming object is projected from a vacant head. Language becomes both the prolongation of the soul and an element which is foreign to the body. In both works, a pair of eyes appears, as if an exterior conscious is looking upon attentively.

Once downstairs, one is confronted with the video work Breath on Hemerocallis; the name of the plant evoking the passage of time or the beauty of a day. A large, anthropomorphic vegetal mass turns upon itself, slows down, and starts all over again repeatedly. Lit by the passage of the sun at the back of the artist’s studio, its shadow is projected on a wall. In the adjacent room, one discovers three editions Ancholia Ancholiae, Le Monde, 3 novembre 2015, and Fedor and Gustav. The first is a superposition of the four monumental drawings Huck did for his 2012 exhibition at the Centre Culturel Suisse in Paris, while the second is a play with the French newspaper Le Monde, where the publication’s title has been cropped to reveal the word “onde”, or wave. The third, Fedor and Gustav is the combination of “Crime and Punishment with “L’Origine du Monde” (alluded to here with a view of the Source of the Loue in Courbet’s region). In 1866 Dostoyevski published his text, and Courbet exhibited his controversial painting.

Artist Biography

Born in Vevey, Switzerland, 1957.
Lives and works in Lausanne.

Education
1987
Founding member of the group and the exhibition space M/2 in Vevey, Switzerland, with J. Crotti, R. Ireland, J.-L. Manz, C. Messerli and C. Monney

1982 - 1986
Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

Solo Exhibitions
2019
Pause, Atelier 49, Vevey, Switzerland

2018
Nous sommes tous des loups dans la forêt profonde de l’éternité (A Huck et F. Prétovitch), Galerie C, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

2017
Alain Huck. Foin, KMD - Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp / The Forestay Museum of Art, Bourg-en-Lavaux, Switzerland
Tous Kurtz ensemble, Galerie Skopia, Geneva, Switzerland
Capitule, duo show with S. Pelletier), Cabinet Dr Marie-Christine Gailloud-Matthieu, Lausanne, Switzerland

2015
Le Monde 2015 accrochage (A. Huck et M. Steckbauer), Galerie Skopia, Geneva, Switzerland

2014
Addition de l’Homme aux Bêtes, dAM, Espace de Andrés-Missirlian, Romainmôtier, Switzerland
Hybrid, The Armory Show, Gallery Skopia, New York, USA

2013
Tabou, Galleria Marie-Laure Fleisch, Rome, Italy
Surtout mais surtout ne nous dites plus comment survivre à notre folie, Galerie Skopia, Geneva, Switzerland
Totem Twin (A. Huck et C. Burnand), RATS, Centre d’Art Estival, café des Mouettes, Vevey, Switzerland

2012 - 2013
Tragedy or Position, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy, France

2012
Ancholia, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France

2011
Tragedy or Position, Art Unlimited, Skopia Gallery, Basel, Switzerland

2010
Déposition, Kunstforum Baloise, Basel, Switzerland

2009
L’Espèce de chose mélancolie (La chair nuit), MAMCO - Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland

2008
Kuroi Ame, Galerie Sollertis, Toulouse, France
Suspension, Viceversa – L’Annexe, Lausanne, Switzerland

2007
No see no bomb, Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2006
Excuse me…, Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Switzerland

2002
Animal Beauty, Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland

2000
Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland

1999
Vitrine in der Rosengasse, Kunsthalle im Kulturhaus Palazzo, Liestal, Switzerland
Amadio & Huck, Bartók 32 Galéria, Budapest, Hungary

1997
Un abri d’ores et déjà, Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

1995
Mon amour quelle belle journée, Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
M/2, Forde, Geneva, Switzerland

1993
Kunstraum, (with Jean Crotti), Aarau, Switzerland
Fri-Art, (with Claudio Moser), Fribourg, Switzerland

1992
Peinture, Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich, Switzerland

1991
Les derniers jours sont très peu colorés, Skopia Gallery, Nyon, Switzerland

1990
Autre chose encore, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

1989
Skopia Gallery, Nyon, Switzerland

Group Exhibitions (selected)
2019
Exclusivement contemporain, La Société suisse de gravure fête ses 100 ans, Cabinet d'Arts Graphiques, Musée d'art et d'Histoire, Geneva, Switzerland
Orbis Terrae, Domus Poetica, Bellinzone, Switzerland
Sans titre, entre autres, curated by David Mamie, Xavier Robel and Nicola Todeschini, Le Commun, Geneva, Switzerland
Memoria del Sublime. Il passaggio nel Secolo XXI, Museo Villa dei Ceidri, Bellinzone, Switzerland
It's always the darkest before dawn, Darb1718, Cairo, Egypt
Imago, curated by Massimiliano Madonna and Konrad Tobler, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, Switzerland
Silences, Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland
Atlas. Cartographie d’un don, MCBA Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Pause, EspaceIvx | Ateliers 49, Corseaux, Switzerland

2018
Ricochet, curated by Teresa Maranzano and Nicole Reimann, CACY - Centre d'art contemporain, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
Editions récentes: Alain Huck, Mingjin Luo, Karim Noureldin, Atelier Raynald Métraux, Lausanne, Switzerland
Corps célestes - Quand les artistes regardent les étoiles, Château de Gruyères, Gruyères, Switzerland
De Biënnale van de Schilderkunst 'Over Landschappen', Musee van Deinze en de Leiestreek, Deinze, Belgium
Tief verwurzelt - Weit verzweigt, Helvetia Art Foyer, Basel, Switzerland
Monochromes, Musée des Beaux-Arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

2017
« Tout va bien » M/2 Stéphan Landry, Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Switzerland
Drawing Praxis, MLF | Marie-Laure Fleisch, Brussels, Belgium
Capitule, Cabinet Marie-Christine Gailloud-Matthieu, Lausanne, Switzerland
Tu giovane, in quel maggio in cui l’errore era encora vita, Locus solus, Prilly, Switzerland
Sous les dehors du dessin - Aspects de la collection 20e - 21e siècle, Musée d’art et d’histoire de la Ville de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
gezeichnet/gezeigt, Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, Switzerland
E/T, galerie Skopia, Geneva, Switzerland

2016
Langmatt, Licht, Libellen - Impressionismus gestern und heute, Museum Langmatt, Baden, Switzerland
MDM, Galerie C, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Papiers XL, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Origines et horizon. La Collection d'Art Nestlé, MuseĢe Jenisch Vevey, Switzerland
Collectionneurs, Werke aus der Sammlung des Kunstmuseums Luzern und einer Genfer Privatsammlung, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland

2015
Biens Publics, Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland
Voz, Collectif M/2, Villa Sarasin-Palaexpo, Art Genève, Switzerland

2014
Plataforme(s), Centre d'Art Contemporain, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
Autres Accrochages, MAMCO - Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Lupanar, Forma Art Contemporain et Cabinet d'Expertise, Lausanne, Switzerland
Autres accrochages, MAMCO - Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
La passion Dürer, Musée Jenisch Vevey, Switzerland
25 ans Skopia, Galerie Skopia, Geneva, Switzerland
Emergences, Bex & Arts, Bex, Switzerland
Des hommes et la forêt, Musée Historique et des Porcelaines, Château de Nyon, Nyon, Switzerland

2013
Paroles d’artistes/Portraits d’artistes, screening of Catherine Gfeller's movie, Centre de la Photographie, Geneva; Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland
Le Regard du bègue. Une exposition dans la collection, MAMCO - Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva
Bruits de fond, Villa Bernasconi, Geneva, Switzerland
Accrochage d’été, Galerie Skopia, Geneva, Switzerland
Lemancolia traité artistique du Léman, Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Switzerland
Totem Twin, Centre d’Art Estival, Café des Mouettes, Vevey, Switzerland

2012
An edited selection from the Atelier Raynald Métraux, Centre culturel Suisse, Paris, France
Art contemporain..ou bien? BCV Art Collection, Fondation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne, Switzerland
Science and fiction, a laboratory of drawing, Katz Contemporary Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

2011
Acquisitions récentes d’Antonin Artaud à Tatiana Trouvé, Galerie d’Art Graphique, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Môtiers 2011, Art en plein air, Môtiers, Switzerland
Portraits & Paysages, (with A. Bianchini, E. Bulatov, J. Crotti, F. Gertsch, S. Koba, C. Moser, P. Schwerzmann), Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2010
Drawing time - Le temps du dessin, Musée des Beaux-Arts of Nancy, France
Voici un dessin suisse. 1990-2010, Musée Rath, Geneva, Switzerland
Impressions du noir, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Le Locle, Switzerland
Des seins à desseins, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland
Je ne vois que le soleil, La lumière dans les collections du musée, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
Storage (with A. Bianchini, A. Hanimann, R. Ireland, Ch. Rütimann, P. Schwerzmann), Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2009
Actual Fears 2, 9th edition of NIFFF, CAN, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
I am by birth a Genevese, Vegas Gallery, London, United Kingdom; Espace Forde, Geneva, Switzerland
Usages du document, CCS – Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France
Underline, (with A. Hanimann, H. Sachs, M. Tampon-Lajariette), Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
Days & Decades, 20th Anniversary, Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
Le travail de rivière, Centre d’Art Contemporain d’Ivry - Credac, Ivry-sur-Seine, France
Hespérides III:Retour à Eden, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
Blaue Stunde, Bilder zwischen Tag und Nacht, Museum für Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland

2008
Le Spectrarium, Pavillon suisse – Le Corbusier, Paris, France
Hôtel des spectres familiers, Centre d’Art le Lait, Castres (Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse), France
Fading Away, (with J. Chevalier, J. Crotti, F. Gertsch, A. Hanimann, C. Moser), Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
I Love Jenish, voyage au cœur des collections, Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Switzerland
Relampago, KBB, Barcelona, Spain

2007
For another groupshow, (with Ph. Decrauzat, D. Hominal, O. Mosset, J. Pfister, D. Rittener), objectif_exhibitions, Antwerp, Belgium
Vite soyons heureux il le faut je le veux, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland, 
Môtiers 2007, Art en plein air, Môtiers, Switzerland
Texere II, (with E. Bulatov, A. Hanimann, R. Ireland, O. Mosset, H. Sachs, P. Schwerzmann, F. E. Walther), Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2006
Bêtes de style, Mudac, Lausanne, Switzerland
1996-2006, 10 ans d’acquisition de dons et de legs, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
20ème anniversaire de la Fondation Irène Reymond, Musée Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland

2005
At the launderette, (with E. Antille, J. Crotti, V. Kohler, J.-L. Manz), Lausanne, Switzerland
Naturellement Abstrait, l’Art Contemporain Suisse dans la Collection Julius Baer, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Schnittstelle, aus der Sammlung Erwin Oberwiler, Kunstmuseum, Olten, Switzerland
Portraits & Paysages (with F. Gertsch, C. Moser, Th. Ruff), Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland

2002
Rétrospective des Prix Manor 1989-2002, l’Elac, Lausanne, Switzerland
Inside the Sixties: g.p. 1.2.3., Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
BCV-Art, Musée Jenisch, Vevey, Switzerland

2001
L’Attrait du Trait, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland

2000
The Doors, Hotel Löwengraben, Lucerne, Switzerland
Phoenix, Galerie PZK, Lucerne, Switzerland

1999
Le Corps Evanoui, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Noir nero black schwarz, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland

1998
Zeichnung, Helmhaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Prix Fédéraux des Beaux-Arts, Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Autour de la Peinture, (with N. Fernandez, E. Hattan, Th. Huber, R. Ireland, Ch. Rütimann, P. Schwerzmann), Skopia Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
Commerce, Galerie Gaxotte, Porrentruy, Switzerland
Fin de siècle, Embassy of Switzerland, Paris, France

1997
Lauréats du Concours Fédéral des Beaux-Arts, Musée Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland

1995
Art en plein air, Môtiers, Switzerland
Préludes, Musée Arlaud, Lausanne, Switzerland

1994
Bad zur Sonne, 100 Umkleidekabinen, Graz, Austria
Fondation H. Maurer, Musée des Beaux-Arts, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Le Fantôme des Beaux-Arts, Brama, Kiev, Ukraine

1992
Sens Dessus Dessous, (with F. Baudevin, A. Bianchini, J. Crotti, N. Fernandez, R. Ireland), Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Switzerland
Lauréats de la bourse fédérale 1991, (with R. Birza, A. Colton, M. Disler, J. Geurts, A. Stalder, R. Venlet, J.-L. Vilmouth), Kunstmuseum, Soleure

1991
Il sesso del padre, M/2, Vevey, Switzerland
Blue Artists (with J. Crotti, I. Anüll, P. Marie, R. Ireland, J.-L. Manz, A. Bianchini), Gallery Chetwynd
Stapylton, San Francisco (CA), USA
Chamer Räume, Kunst am Ort, Cham, Switzerland
13 junge Schweizer, Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, Germany

1990
Szene Schweiz, Städtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim, Germany

1989
Coproductions, Filiale et Galerie Peter Bläuer, Basel, Switzerland

1988
Riviera Künstler, (with J. Bonnard, J. Crotti, R. Ireland, J.-L. Manz), Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland

1987
Jeune Sculpture, Port d'Austerlitz, Paris, France

Residencies
1997
Atelier Vaudois, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France

1989
Istituto Svizzero di Roma, Italy 

Bibliography (selected)
2016
- Les Salons Noirs - La Symétrie du Saule, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France

2014
- Carnet de dessins, Musée historique et des porcelaines, Château de Nyon, Ville de Nyon, Switzerland

2013
- Vitamin D2, new perspectives in Drawings, London, United Kingdom, Phaidon, 2013, pp. 134-137

2012
- Ancholia, éd. Centre Culturel Suisse, an artist book
- Le théâtre des ombres d’Alain Huck, texte de Mariane Dautrey, Le phare, Centre culturel suisse, Paris, France, journal n° 10, February-April 2012
- Dessiner pour affronter l’histoire sans l’oubli, une exposition en forme d’énigme l’un des meilleurs
- Artistes suisses, écrit par Laurent Wolf, Le Temps, 7 février

2011
- Tragedy or Position, texte de Julie Enckell Julliard, Art Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland, 2011
- Un moment de silence dans la foire, écrie part Laurent Wolf, Le Temps, Samedi Culturel, 11 juin

2010
- Le livre libre. Essai sur le livre d’artiste, Buchet Chastel, Les Cahiers dessinés, p. 323
- Le trajet de rivière, Claire Le Restif, Jean-Louis Trocherie, Hélène Meisel, éd. Le Credac/Analogues, pp. 32, 85-86
- Voici un dessin suisse (1990-2010), Ed. Musée Jenisch Vevey et jrp|ringier, Zurich, Switzerland, p. 80-82

2009
- Vertige au Mamco, écrit par Françoise Jaunin, Tribune de Genève, Switzerland, 19 novembre

2007
- Vite soyons heureux il le faut je le veux, jrp|ringier, Zurich, Switzerland

2006
- Alain Huck, textes de Konrad Bitterli, Julie Enckell Julliard, Dominique Radrizzani, jrp|ringier, Zurich, Switzerland (monographie)

2002
- Animal Beauty, texte de Stéphanie Bédat, Circuit, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Alain Huck, interview et texte de Catherine Othenin-Girard, La Collection BCV no 14, Lausanne, Switzerland

1997
- Alain Huck, texte de Françoise Nyffenegger, Kunstbulletin, no 5, p. 30-31, Stäfa, Switzerland

1995
- L’art en plein air, les soucoupes volantes, texte de Robert Ireland, Tout est sculpture, p. 186, Acatos, Lausanne, Switzerland

1994
- Drawings, texte de Robert Ireland, Le fantôme des Beaux-Arts p. 10, Kiev, Ukraine

1993
- Oh! Interessan & Allover, texte de Konrad Bitterli, Q. Zeitung, n 8-9, p. 12, Aarau, Switzerland
- Claudio Moser & Alain Huck, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Fribourg, Switzerland, texte de Elisabeth Gerber, Artis, p. 56
- Alain Huck, texte de Elisabeth Gerber, Fri-Art 1993, p. 6-9, Fribourg, Switzerland

1992
- Ironie, texte de Katja Schenker, Sens Dessus Dessous, Kunsthalle St. Gallen, Switzerland

1991
- Die Jagd / die sesshafte Person / der Verlust, texte d’Alain Huck, Fussnoten Jacques Bonnard, Gespräche Interviews Texte p. 69- 77, Forum junge Kunst, Zug, Switzerland

1989
- Autre chose encore, texte de Jérôme Baratelli, Placette et Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland