Funktion (Function)

Visual Description

A bearded man looks out of the picture. He wears a dark beret with a badge and a wide scarf wrapped around his neck and shoulders. Only the right half of his face is clearly worked out: a serious eye, the nose, part of the mouth, modeled in grays and whites.

The left half of the picture dissolves into fast, dark brushstrokes. Face, beard and scarf blur there into a field of black, gray and ocher. On the right, the figure stands against an intense red that shifts into yellow at the top. The boundary between red and dark follows the man’s contour.

Artistic Interpretation

“Funktion” (Function) asks about the relationship between role and person. The beret and badge point to a duty, an affiliation or a uniform without specifying it. The human being behind it remains only half visible.

Hübner does not depict a specific individual or tell a story. He shows how a function can shape the image of a person, and how much remains hidden in the process. The single eye seems alert and unmoved. Viewers are looked at directly and at the same time kept at a distance.

Art-Historical Context

The role portrait, in which clothing and attributes express social standing, is one of the oldest forms of portraiture. Hübner breaks open this tradition by turning half of the figure into gestural abstraction. The work thus sits between realism and Art Informel and belongs to the group “Identity and the Present.”

Exclusivity

“Funktion” is a unique work in acrylic on canvas in a large 120 × 100 cm format, painted in December 2025. Fluorescent pigments react to UV light. Under black light, the red ground changes its effect and opens a second level of perception.

Collector Value

With its scale and strong color tension, the work has a commanding presence in a room. For collectors, it is a substantial example of how Hübner translates questions of identity and social roles into a distinct visual language.

More About the Artist

Matthias Hübner (b. 1976) combines high-contrast figuration with intense color and an open, psychologically charged visual language in modern surrealistic realism. People, emotions and different levels of perception are at the center of his work. Since returning to painting in 2020, he has continued to develop his artistic position experimentally.

Early awards at the GDR youth painting competition in 1989 and the European painting competition in 1993, along with international recognition in recent years, mark his artistic development.

Condition Report

Very good condition; no visible defects. A detailed condition report is available on request.