Markus Hofer – Le Tour de la Réalité

Vienna-based artist Markus Hofer (Austria, 1977-…) develops his work around cognitive dissonance. Each sculpture disturbs the eye and generates confusion through a new form of «trompe-l’oeil», urging the visitor to look, to stop for a moment, then look again.
Hence the title of this new show the «Tour of Reality». Everyday objects come to life, grow and intertwine. The artist takes pleasure making havoc of their reality, often with a touch of humor, or sometimes through a mild form of irritation. The objects are carefully selected and acquire a fresh layer of meaning as the result of his sculptural interventions. Our usual patterns of perception are turned upside down but also expanded and put in a new context. Sculptures become «active matter», as he sometimes calls them, referring to their independence and their dynamic components, which reinterpret subject matter and give the appearance of being in perpetual motion; evolving from one meaning to the next.