The jeweller Florian Wagner owns a workshop in Vienna’s hip 7th district. The elaborate pieces he composes for his customers there do not cater to prevailing fashion, but impress with individuality and timeless design. His favourite stone is the opal, he says. Only few stones are so manifold in their shapes. Be it rings, bracelets, necklaces or earrings, he does not privilege any particular kind of jewellery. Each and every one is unique in its particular way and requires a personal approach in design and finish. We visited the jeweller Florian Wagner in his studio and produced a feature film.

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His paintings are states of suspense, images of atmospheres, extreme in their expressivity and consistent in their treatment, the material of his objects are found ones, raw and poetic at the same time. Les Tardes Goldscheyder in a CastYourArt feature.

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He who comes too late is punished by life. But what goes on with the late ones, those whose nature is inclined towards the end. The melancholy they carry within does not paralyze them, on the contrary. The ending, the finish, this movement is the fire blazing within them, fanning their drive to act. Les Tardes Goldscheyder’s art is always an examination of finality, of the devil’s ride called life, daring, acrimonious, an addictive drive towards frenzy. The tensions of such an existence initiates art and is reflected in it – “it is consistent to make art about things you know about”. His found objects are staged assertively, there is no surplus spoiling the tension, he prefers raw poetry. His art, embracing painting as well as poetry, comes from the edge. “As said, up to now everything is merely hope. Maybe there is nothing up there. Perhaps the pit is it. The hole in the sand. And I should let myself fall backwards…, but it is too strong. The urge to come up is too strong.”
(Quotes: Les Tardes Goldscheyder | Written by Wolfgang Haas | Translated by Cem Angeli)

Shaman of the archetypes – the bizarre, humorous, erotic and poetic oeuvre of Meret Oppenheim is on display in the Bank Austria Kunstforum in Vienna till 14 July 2013. An exhibition portrait produced by CastYourArt.

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Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985) would have celebrated her 100th birthday next October. There is no suitable terminology to classify her multifaceted and idiosyncratic work. This first retrospective exhibition in Austria attempts a new view on Oppenheim’s life and work, showing pieces of all her creative periods. Curator Heike Eipeldauer managed to bring together more than 200 items from various museums and private collections.
However, Meret Oppenheim’s iconic object, the fur-covered teacup called fur breakfast by André Breton, is not among the exhibits, it remained in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
As is often the case with female artists, more attention has been paid to her biography, love life and personal appearance than to her creative work. This retrospective in the Bank Austria Kunstforum aims to allow for a new and thorough view on her work. more »

On the occasion of the 20st anniversary of the Architekturzentrum Wien the new exhibition “Az W Gold”, curated by Sonja Pisarik, Monika Platzer, Katrin Stingl and Ute Waditschatka, directs a spotlight on the previously unknown Az W collection. From March 21. till July 22. 2013 design drawings, plans, sketch books, photos and models will be on display to document Austrian architectural history. An exhibition portrait by CastYourArt.

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In the exhibition, a comprehensive insight into examples out of the archive with its more than 500 models gives an idea on how architecture was conceived and produced. As an Austrian institution that feels responsible for the history of architecture and collects architecture, the Az W is a location for reflection about public space and the architecture configuring it – including reflexion about the context of the institution itself, as well as about forms of organizing our environment. more »

Until May 12th, 2013 a retrospective of the artist Rudolf Goessl is presented at ZEITKUNST Niederösterreich in the Lower Austria Contemporary gallery St. Pölten, covering several decades of his work. CastYourArt has visited Rudolf Goessl in his studio and produced an artist’s portrait about him.

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Rudolf Goessl, born in 1929 was one of the first Austrian artists to devote himself to monochrome painting. A brief stay in New York, where the works of Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and others caught his attention inspired him to strike a new path painting abstract fields of colour. more »

As an artist, Helmut Grill explores the complicity between the image-maker and the viewer to a maximum. An artist-portrait by CastYourArt.

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It is a concept based on the fascination of the arcane. The absence of persons is a part of the story. Every connection with man and society only emerges as a result of the staging of objects and messages that have been “forgotten” over time and conjure up new images. In this way scenarios are developed, reminding us of dreams. Not the fearsome ones, but rather the meaningful and humorous ones we all know.

Collectors pay a lot for his corrida pictures. From 12 December 2012 till 10 March 2013 the Bank Austria Kunstforum in Vienna dedicates an exhibition to the Venice Biennale and Documenta participant Miquel Barceló. An exhibition portrait produced by CastYourArt.

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In the seven halls of the exhibition we can see the sea of Majorca in almost three-dimensional paintings, as well as ceramics, bronze sculptures, desert paintings made in Mali, and pictures of fruit with an almost erotic appearance. In one hall there are pictures of bullfights and crucifixions of animals, in another black portraits reminding of negatives. The works are a testimonial of the artist’s Mediterranean roots, his very peculiar personal style and his way of permanently experimenting with the material. more »

Fascinating masterworks by Soviet architects – in spite of economic and ideological constraints of the years 1955 to 1991: on display in the current exhibition in the Architekturzentrum Vienna. An exhibition-portrait by CastYourArt.

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A clear break with history is one of the main characteristics of modernism. However, in no part of the world there has been such an abrupt and thorough break with tradition as in the Soviet Union. The history of architecture there unfolded in an incredible succession of aesthetical and political back and forth, from constructivism of the 1919-1932 to Stalin’s socialist realism 1932 – 1954, the shift to modernism after 1955, until the dissolution of the USSR. Even though constructivism and Stalinist architecture are well known in these parts, in Western architecture history there is little knowledge about Soviet modernist architecture of the post-war period. The exhibition project „Soviet Modernism“, curated by Katharina Ritter, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair and Alexandra Wachter shows the architecture of 14 former Soviet republics in that particular era. Beyond a Russian perspective, the show is focused on the architecture in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Belarus. more »

In the Shedhall planned by Hans Hollein, ZEITKUNST Niederösterreich exhibits the ample single show REFLECTIONS about the multifaceted artist Hans Kupelwieser in the Gallery of Lower Austria for Contemporary Art, St. Pölten. We met Hans Kupelwieser in his atelier in Vienna and produced an artist-portrait.

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“The truth is unreachable for art – but for reality as well“

The artist Hans Kupelwieser was born in 1948. He lives and works in Vienna and Lower Austria, attended the school of graphic design in Vienna (1970-1973) and Vienna University of Applied Arts (1976-1982) under the Professors Bazon Brock and Peter Weibel. Since 1995 he is a professor and board member at the institute for contemporary art at Graz University of Technology’s faculty of architecture. more »

From September 19th to November 18th, the Bank Austria Kunstforum in Vienna dedicates an exhibition in its vault room to the artist Özlem Sulak, born in Turkey in 1979. In her work, Özlem Sulak puts into context some aspects of cultural agency and forms of memory, by initiating dialogues beyond temporal and linguistic limitations. An exhibition portrait by CastYourArt.

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Being a child of ones time means that our existence is influenced by what our environment – our social situation, our political culture with its possibilities and limitations, our history - has in store for us. Besides her ways to see and produce art, Özlem Sulak also owes her name to this fact. Her parents named the child born after the military’s coup Özgür Özlem which means “desire for freedom”. Her work has a political and biographical character, originating in the experience of attributions, distinction, delimitation and discrimination. These are cultural operational indexes that make personal matters political ones and lets politics intrude into personal life. In the vault room of the Bank Austria Kunstforum, the artist is represented with five pieces (videos and installations) in which she takes a very poetic approach to existential questions. In the title of the exhibition, “Fictive Presence”, she refers to a state of not-yet-being-there. Any immigrant in Germany with a status pending deportation or residence permit, receives a so-called certification of fiction as a preliminary documentation of his almost being there - Fictive Presence. (Written by Wolfgang Haas. Translated by Cem Angeli.)