David Gruber's 'Verlautbarung' at EXILE, Vienna

David Gruber's exhibition at EXILE, Vienna, titled 'Verlautbarung' (a German term for official proclamation), explores the institutional and authoritative nature of speech acts through small-scale tempera paintings. The works, often no larger than 50 × 30 cm, depict interiors of Hellraiser masks sourced from eBay images, rendered in narrow vertical formats that fragment and alienate the subjects. Nailheads appear as painted dots suggesting grid structures, while body parts like ears and eyes emerge, blurring boundaries between mask, skin, and face. The paintings engage with processes of recognition rather than passive perception, foregrounding opacity as a structural element in visualization. Materials such as blue affiche paper in 'Reverse Schemata (Opacity)' and Bianco San Giovanni pigment—a recipe traceable to medieval painter Cennino Cennini—intensify layers of color. The exhibition reflects on painting's possibilities and aporias in the present, operating between reflexive image practice and the potential for regressive reliance on traditional forms of authority.