STREET REFLECTION

The illusion of street reflections

In the second stage of production Michael Scheirl has created a different genre: “street reflections“, realistic paintings of reflections and mirrored images on wet ground surfaces. Here the emphasis is no longer just on the direct model-like reconstruction of material structures and street fragments as such in full detail. The models for these works are the reflections on wet asphalt. It becomes an image dispenser – an aesthetic medium of its environs, reflecting the places, the architecture and, above all, the informative signs and advertising associated with worldwide mobility and consumerism.
The motives are graphically applied to the asphalt undercoat and finished with an almost glass-like coating. in doing this, Scheirl initiates counter movement. He projects onto a surface that is itself consumed by movement, those fleeting flashing reflections and moments of a changing environment: Promotional slogans, bits and pieces of commercial landscapes – those alleged retreats for recreation and relaxation that seem to negate the constant movement which they have actually created.
This artistic work of painted reflections of light on asphalt is an aesthetic experience, whereby its distance is stronger than the immediacy of the asphalt street paintings. The stationary image of the reflection renders duration to that which was only seen by chance or fleetingly. That which only appeared for a brief time and stretch on a wet path with all its unevenness and irregularities– becomes a permanent picture to be viewed at any time. an artistic interpretation of reflections of happen stance; the delicate colouration of the images breathes speed and dense perspective, damp climate and chilly temperatures, purity and dirtiness of ordinary streets. The thematic concept behind “reflections“ embodies the impressions, moments, extracts and details of traffic, nearby signs and lights, as well as spacious transit areas attracting the driver’s attention as destinations or merely stopovers.
The details and consumer world reflected in the wetness magnify the semblance of artistic and ordinary images; vehicles, urban signs, filling stations and rest areas for interim and final stops are wrapped in the promising gasoline glamour and diesel fumes of impressionism charged by neon lights