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  • Helmut Drexler

  • Glanzlichter

  • Weisse Oase

White Oasis & Leading Lights

Vase in the exhibition "Glanzlichter", ©Porzellanikon
Vase in the exhibition "Glanzlichter", ©Porzellanikon
View of the "White Oasis", ©Porzellanikon, Photo: Fotostudio Reinhard Feldrapp, Naila
View of the "White Oasis", ©Porzellanikon, Photo: Fotostudio Reinhard Feldrapp, Naila

A good 1,000 objects by Helmut Drexler (1927 - 2016) promise some exciting things in the museums in Selb and Hohenberg an der Eger. In two exhibition rooms, "White Oasis" and "Highlights" at the Selb site, the unique objects, masterfully crafted and designed by master craftsmen, are on display.

In the region of Selb and beyond, the trained porcelain painter has long been known as an idiosyncratic, tireless artist, who, a porcelain painter through and through, lives with the white gold and constantly wrestles new expressions and shapes from it. His enormous knowledge led him to new experiments in the still unexplored.

Faults as an aesthetic component

In the "White Oasis" in Selb you will find works with which the old master of porcelain decoration enters the terrain of formal redesign. Drexler created new porcelain objects, which he assembled by hand without the help of plaster moulds. He also added smashed porcelain, i.e. shards of vessels which he had smashed with a hammer. Once again, as with his glazes, he worked with the (deliberately induced) defect, indeed the catastrophe, as an aesthetic component. Drexler assembled the sometimes complicated volumes after glaze firing. Here too - and once again - the porcelain enthusiast did not shy away from breaking a taboo if it serves his artistic message. The "White Oasis" section radiates light and calm. The splendour of the vessels and porcelain pictures, often decorated with gold and chandelier glazes, is radiant and clear here.

The "highlights" in the same building have a completely different character. Immersed in mystical darkness, targeted light makes the precious, elaborately decorated pieces shine.

A room-high wall design made of porcelain can be admired in Porzellanikon Hohenberg an der Eger, a special object by Helmut Drexler on the occasion of the opening of the extension building, 1995.