The >XENIA HAUSNER: ÜberLeben< exhibition gives a deep insight into the work of the important Austrian painter Xenia Hausner. Recent large-format figurative paintings from various international collections can be seen as well as new works that have been specifically produced for the exhibition. The heart of the show is an outsized, threatening and breathtaking photo installation made especially for the rotunda in the Essl Musuem. For the artist, who initially worked as a stage designer and turned to painting in the 1990s, it is a welcome challenge to work with space in an expansive way.

XENIA HAUSNER Pensée Sauvage, 2011 Öl auf Dibond / oil on dibond 140 x 213 cm © VBK, Wien, 2012 Fotonachweis: Archiv der Künstlerin

“ÜberLeben” (“Surviving”), the title of the exhibition, accords with a fundamental idea of Xenia Hausner’s work, which is marked by a mysterious ambiguity. Her art is honest, it expresses something existential about life, but at the same time it lives from an enigmatic cast of figures and consciously employed symbolic allusions that escape explicit interpretation. With technical finesse, Hausner lends a dignified image to her expressive, self-aware protagonists – she almost exclusively paints women – she captures an apparently transient moment in the painting and turns the picture into a stage. People and surroundings are staged in an emotionally charged way, the image in the portrait character and the different levels of meaning give rise to a psychological interplay between being and appearance. The boundaries between photography and painting are abolished, allowing hybrid forms to emerge. Photographic elements repeatedly crop up in the paintings, painted works are photographed, photos overpainted.

XENIA HAUSNER Unter Strom, 2012 Öl auf Dibond / oil on dibond 175 x 220 cm © VBK, Wien, 2012 Fotonachweis: Archiv der Künstlerin

“ÜberLeben” (“Surviving”) could also be the title of the installation created specially for this exhibition in the rotunda of the main hall: in this work Hausner refers to her origins as a stage designer. A pair of women apparently lying peacefully in a bed can be seen in a lightbox that fills the whole floor of the rotunda. Over them, life-threateningly, floats a large sharp-edged stone. At any moment it can fall on them and destroy their life and love.

Catalogue

The Essl Museum will publish a catalogue with numerous pictures, a preface by Agnes Essl, texts by Alexandra Matzner, Rainer Metzger and Elmar Zorn and an interview with the artist by curator Günther Oberhollenzer.

Art Education

The art education team offers guided tours and workshops during the exhibition, further details: ART EDUCATION >>

Free bus shuttle

Visitors can reach the Essl Museum conveniently by free bus shuttle from Vienna city centre, Albertinaplatz 1 (Tues – Sun, 10 a.m., 12 a.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and return)

Press photos

Press photos are available upon request at the Press Office or via download from PRESS >>

PRESS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE

Erwin Uhrmann (head), uhrmann@essl.museum, +43 (0) 2243/370 50 60
Regina Holler-Strobl, holler-strobl@essl.museum, +43 (0) 2243/370 50 62