In the exhibition “PHANTOMAK” in the Vienna University of Technology, sculptures by the artist Tomak are presented to the public for the first time. The sculpture series PHANTOMAK consists of eleven individual busts of the artist, produced in a complex technical procedure – Wood Jackson, Rotpeter, Height, Headquarters…

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„Thus my work completes itself by the sculpture.“ (TOMAK)
The sculpture series PHANTOMAK was produced in the course of the past one and a half years. The works were manufactured in close cooperation with the Vienna University of Technology (institute of art and design – spatial development and modelling), the German company Rampf Tooling and an Austrian foundation. CastYourArt is responsible for the organisation of the project. more »

The building of the Vienna Secession is regarded as the structural manifestation of the ideas of artist union around Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Carl Moll and others who refused the conservative artistic spirit of the Vienna Künstlerhaus. A feature about this historical and contemporary venue of the arts.

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Today the Vienna Secession, the union of Austrian artists, is the oldest independent exhibition centre dedicated to contemporary art worldwide. The building designed by the architect Joseph Maria Olbrich is regarded as the structural manifestation of the ideas of this artist’s union around Gustav Klimt, Koloman Moser, Carl Moll, Josef Hoffmann, Olbrich and others, whose members refused the conservative approach to art of the Künstlerhaus association at the turn of the century.
To confront the fin de siècle with a holistic art whose vitality would have its effect down to the ordinary everyday life! By means of the Secession building, this claim would obtain an actual location, in order to present art in a space-oriented and comprehensive way, within a synthesis of architecture, painting, sculpture, graphic art and decoration. The artistic approach with the building as its symbol still draws attention and now as then, the usage of the building causes excitement.
On of the most celebrated exhibitions was dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven in 1902, a main work of which being the Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt. On this 34-meter mural painting, the artist focused on Beethoven’s 9th symphony. The painting addresses mankind’s pursuit of happiness in various stages. Because of its explicit eroticism, Klimt’s work provoked admiration as well as severe criticism. At the time the Beethoven Frieze was situated in the left side aisle of the Secession’s main hall and was eventually removed in 1903. Today it is back in the Secession and installed in a specifically created room in the basement floor of the building.
With its spatial arrangement, the architecture of the Vienna Secession has remained relevant in our time. Its functionality and aesthetic peculiarity therefore offer ideal conditions for contemporary arts and exhibition activities. Thus, in accordance with the phrase carved above its entrance, to every age its art and to art its freedom, today the Vienna Secession accomplishes an internationally oriented program, presenting current artistic forms of expression in single and thematic exhibitions.
CastYourArt has created a feature about this historical and contemporary venue of the arts, giving an insight into the building, its architecture and history as well as its activities in contemporary art. (wh)

On the occasion of the “Botero” exhibition in the Bank Austria Kunstforum, curator Dr. Evelyn benesch will speak about the artist’s Abu Ghraib series.

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In the years 2004-2005, Columbian painter Fernando Botero worked on a series of paintings named Abu Ghraib. Ever since the photographs of the Abu Ghraib prison were published in 2004, this name came to symbolize a policy that endorses abuse and torture in the name of justice. The hypocrisies around the events in Abu Ghraib prompted the artist to paint this cycle. US museums simply disregarded these works during Botero exhibitions. When liberal Berkeley University finally showed this cycle, Botero donated the entire series to the university in gratitude. In the exhibition “Botero”, in Bank Austria Kunstforum, “Abu Ghraib”, the outraged artist’s cycle on human brutality, will be on display until January 15, 2012. (wh/ca)

On the occasion of his exhibition “İz” in Istanbul starting on 12 October 2011 6.30 pm at
Artgalerim Nişantaşı we replay from our archives the artist portrait of Cemal Gürsel Soyel.

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CastYourArt visited the Cyprus-born painter, Cemal Gürsel Soyel, in Vienna, and accompanied him on his way to his studio. The resulting podcast shows more than just the streets of Vienna. The walk we take with him leads us down the path of the artist to his painting – both in a literal and a pleasantly ironic sense. (wh/jn)

Rather than expressing something directly, the force of artistic expressivity lies within manifesting the getting-to-talk within the work itself.

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„I will now reveal the secret: I am talking about an important artist“ (Christian Ludwig Attersee)

Random. Clean Cuts. The works of the new series by the artist Alexander Steinwendtner contain an essential and fascinating quality of human endeavour, referred to as making art: precise artistic expression arises stems from an artistic attunement, not quite definable and therefore not attainable in an exact manner.

In other words, the artist is able to specify what falls to him and that art is not simply mastered, but in fact created. Quality, says Alexander Steinwendtner, arises from a time that he is somewhat unable to define. Therefore the artistic agenda is to venture into the undefined, in order to reach the concept. more »

CastYourArt presents

Opening: Tuesday, 28 June 2011 | 7.00 - 10.00 pm
Exhibition: 29 Jun 2011 - 29 Jul 2011 | Mo-Fr 1.00 pm - 7.00 pm
Location: Gumpendorfer Straße 55, 1060 Wien/Vienna

„The 1960ies: a fantastic modern“ in the MUSA Vienna reveals the spirit of a decade marked by radical upheaval, along the way the entire who’s who of Austrian art is displayed.

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Not only in politics, also in the domain of the arts the 1960ies were a decade of worldwide upheaval, the radical changes can also be retraced in the Austrian art scene of that period. At the beginning of the decade, art became in many cases more political and provocative in its statements, drawing on subjects in between the realities of the mundane and the artistic. The convergence of high culture and popular culture has its beginnings in these movements, followed by a fundamental challenge to the previous notion of art. more »

Aivazovsky is regarded as the master of seascapes. In his lifetime he dedicated himself to this motif as a metaphor for life, of desire as well as the struggle between nature and culture.

For the first time, the Bank Austria Kunstforum shows a retrospective of the artist outside of Russia and the Ukraine. There are fifty representative paintings on display, among them main works from the Aivazovsky Museum in Feodosia and the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg that have never been shown abroad.

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As legend has it, he died in his studio with a brush in his hand, 111 years ago. In his exceptionally long life he actually left only this one painting unfinished, out of the estimated 6000 he painted. In his lifetime his works were already marvelled at, admired, venerated – and purchased. more »

Fritz Panzer relieves objects of his immediate reality of their significations and shows them in their half present - half absent nature.

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The chair and the chair: If you place a wire object by Fritz Panzer next to its „real“ model it seems to be from a different world. What ? The wire object or its model? That is very hard to say at the moment of viewing. We have two objects in front of us, which do not complete nor exclude each other, who are „no more or not yet the Other“ (Roland Barthes) more »

“The First Hit of PHANTOMAK: The Ear Problem. No Problem.”
Masquerade, demasquerade, illusion, delusion, covering, decovering, position, superposition, appearance, constellation. CastYourArt presents the first series of works of the PHANTOMAK project by TOMAK (painting, collage, grafic) and Alek Kawka (photography). Exhibition: September 14 until October 8, 2010 | Mo-Fr | 12p.m. – 5p.m. Opening: September 13 6p.m.

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PHANTOMAK:
For CastYourArt, TOMAK creates the sculpture series PHANTOMAK. 10 individual busts (PHANTOMAK, Hard Licker, Night Rider, …), TOMAK’s head, scanned in 3D, cut out by a milling robot of the Vienna University of Technology at the Institute of Art and Design, and processed by the artist. Objects at the limits of the possible. more »