Christian Ludwig Attersee (born Christian Ludwig on 28 August 1940 in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

) is an Austrian artist.

Biography

After he spent his youth in Upper Austria (also at the Attersee, the origin of his artist's name), Attersee began his studies in 1957 at the then-named Vienna Akademie für angewandte Kunst' (Academy of Applied Arts, in 1998 renamed to "University of Applied Arts") with E. Bäumer, keeping these up until 1963. From 1966 on, he was involved with the short-lived

Viennese Actionism Viennese Actionism was a short-lived art movement in the late 20th-century that spanned the 1960s into the 1970s. It is regarded as part of the independent efforts made during the 1960s to develop the issues of performance art, Fluxus, happening, a ...

movement. Being very intrigued by object and action art from the start, Attersee attempted to combine music, speech, photo and video art with the basic form to create a new form of total artwork (also known by the German term

Gesamtkunstwerk A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so. ...

) like object inventions such as the ''"Speisekugel"'' ("food sphere"), the ''"Speiseblau"'' ("food blue"), the ''"Prothesenalphabet"'' ("prosthetical alphabet"), the ''"Speicheltönung"'' ("saliva tinge" or "saliva hue"), the female

vagina In mammals and other animals, the vagina (: vaginas or vaginae) is the elastic, muscular sex organ, reproductive organ of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vulval vestibule to the cervix (neck of the uterus). The #Vag ...

as an object of art, as well as the self-coined "Attersteck". In later years, the quintessence of his work shall be characterized by subjects like sexuality and natural studies. One example is the provocative ''Kinderzimmertriptychon'' (Nursery Triptych) from 1971, which is inspired by a picture-book illustration of

Fedor Flinzer Fyodor, Fedor Alexis Flinzer (4 April 1832 in Reichenbach im Vogtland – 14 June 1911 in Leipzig) was an author, educator and one of the greatest Germany, German illustrators of the Gründerzeit, who was called Raphael of Cats (disambiguation ...

. His work is denoted by a figural-to-symbolic style transition, bright colors and an energetic ductus. Moreover, there are ambiguous, artsy connotations and imaginations of a likewise free-spirit and very Austrian mentality with a bias towards sexual malapropism. The context too gets incorporated into the artist's work many times, along with additional textual elements embedded into it. Attersee's exhibitions are likely to be composed of art shows, accompanied by music and literature, and to some extent even by fellow artists attending and participating in the show. In 1984, Attersee represented his home country at the

Venice Biennial The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

. Since 1990, he has held a chair at the Vienna University of Applied Arts and is one of the most renowned contemporary Austrian artists worldwide.

Honours and awards

* City of Vienna Prize for Visual Arts (1989) *

Grand Austrian State Prize The Grand Austrian State Prize () is a decoration given annually by Austria to an artist for exceptional work. The recipient must be an Austrian citizen with a permanent residence in Austria. It was originally created in 1950 by then education mi ...

for Fine Arts (May 1998) * Lovis Corinth Prize of Künstlergilde Esslingen, Baden-Wurttemberg (Summer 2004) *

Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art () is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian Decoration for Science and Art" was established by the National Co ...

, 1st class (September 2005) * Silver Commander's Cross of Honour for Services to the province of Lower Austria (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attersee, Christian 1940 births Living people Artists from Bratislava 20th-century Austrian painters 20th-century Austrian male artists Austrian male painters 21st-century Austrian painters 21st-century Austrian male artists People of Hungarian-German descent Austrian people of Slovak descent Austrian people of Hungarian descent Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class Recipients of the Grand Austrian State Prize

Biography

Honours and awards

See also

References