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Upon first glance, Heimatland hardly appears to depict urbanism at all. A periwinkle background and darker blue, nearly black, verticals read as an ocean setting. Its warmer colors compose the veneer of sea life. Yet HP Zimmer’s original artistic movement,
Gruppe SPUR, never dealt with the subject of nature beyond human nature. All artistic trends involved in the inspiration and creation of this piece occur amidst metropolitan environs, all the while eschewing the restrictive urban models of Paris or Copenhagen.
Heimatland, even in its title, champions the city as the necessary environment for creativity. The figures, in their naïve art and Surrealist glory, dwell within such surroundings. However, the flattening of the figures and surroundings communicates a symbiotic essence between the two. Human and city thrive when neither one suppresses or restrains the other.
The painting expresses more than it depicts. Indistinguishable patches of color for
example, surround the figure on the top left–hand side. These might be additional aspects of the figure, or parts of the falsely oceanic background, as one cannot actively differentiate their respective entities. Heimatland has a categorical foreground and a surmised background. Still, the near impossibility of detecting boundaries tells, or screams rather, that the one will remain affected by the other. In the same fashion, human and city exist as one.
The Situationist dérive was thus an act of expression, and not one of collecting impressions. If anything, the participant of dérives left impressions on the city environment. Not only is the art surreal, but also its
intended consequence escapes the realm of reality.
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In his High Society, HP Zimmer explicitly treats the human subject. This time, he stacks the figures one upon the other while again confusing foreground and background. The colors in this piece, while subdued, experience the same identification difficulty. In a brilliant move, the highest figures are more discernible than those at the bottom. Zimmer argues the best off to be least affected by their environment.
This is a cogent argument for capitalist societies, where the spectacle of images described by Guy Debord mainly affects the least powerful class. The Spectacle is an exchange of ideas manifesting themselves as images. Acting as a proxy for real interaction, it immerses the lower classes in a sort of imprisonment as the social contract is replaced by the machinery’s manual.
Perhaps the highest of High Society can discreetly present themselves, for they are easily made out against the beige background. The predicament remains with the disfiguration of these characters. Zimmer suggests some inherent incoherence in the figures on top. Environment might not be the culprit, but something is intrinsically unsound.
A relatively clean upper portion encompasses a hopeful message. Whereas the problem within the privileged in society in inherent, not environmental, beige surroundings mimic the eggshell of untouched canvas. New cities like those of Constant just might save the rotten human from natural failings. In a modernist move, High Society self reflects its ability to bring these problems into discussion as its subversive capacity.