Zeitreise 2021

Fantastic Realism & Actionism

As far as the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism is concerned, the imKinsky has landed a real coup. "We have a major work by Ernst Fuchs of museum quality on offer," emphasizes Kraus-Drasche. The huge picture measures 3.60 meters squared, and "it was a challenge to get it into our art space: we finally had to cut open the door!" recounts the curator. And continues: "This painting entitled 'Paradieso' is one of Fuchs' ten major works. He worked on it again and again in the years from 1983 to 2008/2009." The painting, created in his Monegasque studio Castel Caramel, impresses with its colourfulness and richness of detail. It depicts Adam and Eve in Paradise; they are reminiscent of Greek gods in the midst of a dreamlike world. 

The internationally renowned Actionist movement, which emerged in Vienna in the 1960s, is also represented - with Günter Brus, one of its main protagonists. The imKinsky provides the rare opportunity to buy ten works on paper of his typical "pictorial poems". In his combination of the written word with the drawing, Brus mixes reality with the invented. "We offer the "Nabelstromdelta" cycle," Kraus-Drasche explains. "Brus completed the work on the Spanish island of Gomera in the winter of 1996; the title is depicted in large letters on the first page, dramatically raised by the sharp diagonal of spread, skeletal fingers."

The Synthesis of Sculpture & Architecture

Another internationally highly esteemed artist in the show is Hans Bischoffshausen. "His catalogue raisonné is currently being put together by Charlotte Kreuzmayr, the former editor of the art magazine Parnass," Kraus-Drasche points out new developments.  There are two pictures of Bischoffshausen on offer; "Dwellings" from 1960  and  "Structural Painting IV"  from the late 50s. During that time, the painter broke away from artistic models and developed his own style. This becomes clear in "Dwellings", which dates back to the first period of his monochrome phase in the 1960s. The title refers to Bischoffshausen's lifelong preoccupation with architecture.

This is where his interests converge with Walter Pichler’s, who designed dwellings for his sculptures. The imKinsky has twelve works from the years 1984-1988 on offer. These ink drawings are models for turret-like rooms designed to protect and house his sculptures.

"Pichler is one of the most important representatives of an avant-garde that worked between the boundaries of architecture and sculpture," says the curator. The twelve works on paper were created as preparatory sketches and drafts of his project "TÜRMCHEN" (turrets), the finished dwellings are now located in Pichler's building complex in St. Martin in Burgenland.

The "Great" Contemporaries

The Grande Dame of Austrian painting, Martha Jungwirth,  is also represented. The artist, who after a personal exhibition at the Albertina in 2018 now has a large gallery exhibition of her latest works at Thaddäus Ropac in Paris, hardly needs an introduction anymore. She is also remembered by many art enthusiasts for her wonderful design of the Iron Curtain in the Vienna State Opera for the 2019/2020 season with the motif of the Trojan horse. "We are particularly pleased to have an impressive work by this important artist in our program, who is at last being given the attention she deserves," emphasizes Kraus-Drasche.

Another highlight is Rudolf Polanskzy's large-format work "Reconstructions / Mirrored Symmetries" from 2011. He uses mirror, glass, plastic, silicone and acrylic, but frees these industrial materials from their original function and reuses them. In this way, he opens up a fresh perspective on materials - and thus on art. Numerous exhibitions testify to the international importance of the artist, for example in 2018 at the Vienna Secession, where the Rubell family of collectors secured works for their museum in Miami/USA. In 2020, Polanszky exhibited at New York's Gagosian Gallery. 

Hubert Scheibl is a pupil of the also internationally established great Austrians Arnulf Rainer  and  Max Weiler,whose works can also be seen in the imKinsky exhibition. Scheibl himself is currently being celebrated with an exhibition – "Seeds of Time" – in the Albertina. The imKinsky includes two works from different phases in its program. An untitled work from 1990/91 shows an expressive, agitated green picture surface, which is "held" by a monochrome, smooth picture strip in the lower end. The second work dates from 2018/19 and is from the "Ones" series, from which works are also being exhibited at the Albertina. Kraus-Drasche explains: "These images are key to understanding his color spaces. Originally, they were called ONCE, later Scheibl changed them to ONES to clarify that the pictures are painted in one go; the title is like a formal description of his painting gesture."  It is about the moment of concentration and movement that can no longer be changed or adjusted.