Arnulf Rainer

Painter and printmaker, Austrian artist Arnulf Rainer was born on December 8, 1929. Strongly influenced by Surrealism in his early years, he is one of the leading figures in contemporary abstraction and informalism.
He began his graphic work in 1950, through lithography, and since then has produced over 500 works in various techniques, predominantly using drypoint with dense abstract and gestural lines. He is also known for imposing such marks on self-portraits in photogravure, scratching the printing plate in an apparently violent manner, in self-denial.
His philosophical concerns led him to question rationality and investigate issues such as dreams, madness, and the subconscious. He co-founded a surrealist-influenced movement in the 1950s called Hundsgruppe, along with Ernst Fuchs, Arik Brauer, and Josef Mikl.
After 1954, his style evolved into informal abstract art: the destruction of forms, masks, and overlappings of illustrations and photographs dominate his work. He was also associated with the “Vienna Actionism,” characterized by body art and painting under the influence of drugs, artistic experiences in altered states of consciousness, a theme dear to the surrealists.
In 1978, he received the Austrian Grand Prize, and in the same year, as well as in 1980, he represented Austria at the Venice Biennale.
From 1981 to 1995, he was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna – the same school where he had been and dropped out of his studies after only three days, dissatisfied.
His works have been seen all over the world, exhibited at places such as the MOMA in New York and the Pompidou in Paris. The culmination of his work is presented at the Arnulf Rainer Museum, established in New York in 1993. The artist lives and works in Vienna and Vorbach.