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Each year at the beginning of September, Werner Berg visited the Bleiburger Wiesenmarkt (“Bleiburg Meadow Market”) – a three-day folk festival that has been held for over 600 years, where the rural population from far and wide stocked up on everything they needed for the winter and the coming year, ranging from everyday necessities, clothing or horses to agricultural machinery, with the proceeds of the past harvest. Vendors from near and far offered their wares and the drinking and partying in large marquees went on until late into the night. Standing on the edge of the hustle and bustle, Werner Berg captured market life in numerous sketches year after year. In the studio, these were then turned into oil paintings, which, with their predominantly intensive colours, form a separate series of works in his richly varied oeuvre.

Late at night, by the glow of a streetlamp, he watched the drunk, frequently staggering revellers on their way home – as here, in front of the bright yellow, glowing façade of a house which stands out against the dark, nocturnal surroundings.

The colourful, loud, hectic hustle and bustle of the Wiesenmarkt stood in stark contrast to the staid peace and quiet of his remote Rutarhof farm. “One of my contrasting themes is, in particular, the Wiesenmarkt, whose life at night has always been of special interest to me,” the artist said, adding: “Sometimes I feel drawn to subjects that are contrary to what is expected of me. Things that are simply necessary as a counter pole to the purely rural world. In general, I believe that such subjects, in no matter how narrow a context, gain relevance due to their dichotomy.”
(Harald Scheicher)