Opening: 19/02/09, 7.00 p.m,
together with >BRANDNEW< 7.30 p.m.
Curators: Alfons Schilling with Günther Oberhollenzer

The Essl Museum presents a personal exhibition of works by Alfons Schilling, who will celebrate his 75th birthday in 2009. Born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1934, the artist is considered one of the early representatives of Action Painting.

Like no other artist after him, this pioneer of the visual arts has succeeded in overcoming the confines of two-dimensionality and creatively shaping time and space with his ‘spin paintings’ (Rotationsbilder) and lenticular photographs.

Showing works held by the Essl Collection and loans from the artist, the exhibition focuses on important periods in his career: action painting and spin paintings in the early 1960s and auto-binary stereo images from the 1980s and ‘90s, complemented by lenticular photographs.

ALFONS SCHILLING Actionpainting Untitled, 1960 wall paint on canvas 147 x 187 cm © Sammlung Essl Privatstiftung	ALFONS SCHILLING Aktionsmalerei im Atelier Rue de la Glacière, Paris 1962 © Fotoarchiv Alfons Schilling courtesy Essl Museum

In the early 1960s, Schilling was in very close contact with Günter Brus and developed an extremely gestural, informal painting style. It was in Paris in 1962 that he developed motorised spin paintings, in which Schilling built on his idea of moving images: he painted on and poured and slung paint on rotating circular canvases of more than two metres in diameter.Meter Durchmesser. Schon in den rotierenden Scheibenbildern ist Schillings Interesse zu erkennen, Bewegungs- und Raumerfahrungen zu kombinieren.

ALFONS SCHILLING Wien 1960 © Fotoarchiv Alfons Schilling courtesy Essl Museum	ALFONS SCHILLING Ohne Titel, autobinäres Stereobild, 1991 Acryl auf Baumwolle (Molino) 292 x 498 cm © Sammlung Essl Privatstiftung, Klosterneuburg / Wien Fotonachweis: Mischa Nawrata, Wien

The spin paintings already revealed Schilling’s interest in combining aspects of movement and spatial experiences. Schilling intensively explored aspects of viewing, motion and three-dimensionality and experimented with holographic and lenticular images.

At the same time he also studied ‘viewing machines’ (Sehmaschinen), devices designed to manipulate the way in which one sees a space, and auto-binary stereo images that open up into three-dimensionality when viewed through a prismatic monocle.

ALFONS SCHILLING Ohne Titel (Rotationsbild), 1962 Dispersion und Packpapier auf Leinwand aufgezogen Ø 228 cm © Sammlung Essl Privatstiftung, Klosterneuburg / Wien	Alfons Schilling, Klosterneuburg, 19. Februar 2009 © Frank Garzarolli

 

CatalogUE

ALFONS SCHILLING On the occasion of his 75th birthday German and english. 88 pages with numerous color images. With articles by Karlheinz Essl, Günther Oberhollenzer, Mela Maresch and Brigitte Borchhardt-Birbaumer. Edition Sammlung Essl Privatstiftung: Klosterneuburg 2009 € 19,00 (Order by E-Mail) ISBN: 978-3-902001-49-8

Free Bus shuttle

The Essl Museum can be easily reached with a free Busshuttle, from Vienna City Center,
Albertinaplatz 2 (Tues – Sun, 10 a.m., 12 a.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m.)

Press

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