Phantasten Museum
I was very excited to find out that I had a drawing in The Society for Art of Imaginations group show in Vienna. The exhibition was at the magical Phantastenmuseum I knew a number of the artists were attending this exhibition and I decided it would be a great chance to meet up with them. I had never been to Vienna and so it was the perfect opportunity. However, I was in two minds, as I had never left my 6 year old son for more than a night and the thought of not seeing him for a few days was completely heart wrenching to me. I have to admit that I cried on the train to Gatwick just thinking about that. I fought the urge to jump from the train and run home to him and I made it to Vienna. It was late Friday when I arrived and I took the chance to walk around this beautiful city.
Saturday I got up early I wanted to see the Leopold Museum before heading to our opening at 11am (I am told this is not an unusual time for exhibition openings n Vienna). Being pressed for time I decided to just focus on looking at their Egon Schiele collection. I have always been a big fan of his work and I couldn’t let this chance to see so much of it pass me by. I was not disappointed his drawings have a fragile, intense beauty and I was happy to see his landscape/city paintings that were a complete surprise.
A quick walk through the museum quarter and the Imperial Palace which is in itself stunning and I was at the Palais Palffy which houses the Phantasten Museum. When I arrived it was already buzzing a full house of happy and enthusiastic, artists, collectors, supporters and photographers. I immediately felt welcomed as formalities began. Gerhard Habarta made the speeches introducing the artists and making the link between The Society, Brigid Marlin and Ernst Fuchs both who were in attendance. It was difficult to see the artworks due to the crowd, but I made the effort later in the day, once there was a little more space. I was happy to see a fellow Australian Jon Beinarts work. I also loved the paintings of Shoji Tanakas , Lilia Mazurkevich David Lawton, De es Schwertberger and CamilaBodersonjust to name a few. I was excited to meet Otto Rapp, Claus Brusen and Miguel Tio all who I spoken to via email but never had the pleasure of meeting before. Friends Kate, Eike and Michel were also there to see their work. I felt honoured to have my work in the same room as work by Alex Grey, HR Giger and Laurie Lipton all artists that have influenced me greatly.
Kate was organising the conference, The first International Conference on the future of Fantastic and Visionary Art. It was well attended and a lively conversation about what the future holds, how to support each other and what we could all do to keep the community strong followed the key speeches. There was a general feeling expressed that this kind of artwork had been shut out from schools and galleries but a hope that the strength in numbers would change this. I left the conference feeling energized by the passion of both the speakers and attendees.
Alien
I decided to take some time to look around the museums permanent collection. So many good pieces and well worth the time. With my background in movies I couldn’t help but gravitate towards the Giger alien sculpture.
De es Schwertberger had kindly invited all the artists to his studio. So off we went on the Vienna tube, his studio was truly impressive. Extremely large, open and full of light and work. I asked him how long he had worked in this amazing space, he told me he had been there for 20 years! The conversations that had started at the conference carried on with everyone sat inside a ring of De es Planetarians (over life sized sculptures). Many of the local artists were there and I could see there was a really strong community at work in Vienna. It felt nice to be socialising with such an international bunch of artists.
Sunday I was travelling home but I had set the day aside to look around the Kunsthistorischen Museum. I am so glad I did. What a totally amazing collection. I started by climbing the stairs up to the special viewing platform to see the Murals by Gustav Klimt. It was wonderful to be elevated up close to those iconic women, high up above the ornamental main starway. Next I headed straight to the painting rooms.
Saint Catherine of Siena
The first room I entered knocked me out, wow! I love Durers paintings and here there were a few The Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand was my favorite. So much to see in one painting. The rest of the museum was equally brilliant. Of course The Tower of Babel by Brugel was a highlight, another stunning room. The other highlights for me were the paintings by Hans Memling, Rogier Van Der Weyden, Caravaggio, Lucas Cranach and Tiepolos “Saint Catherine of Siena”. If ever you make it to Vienna it is well worth the admission price.
I headed home feeling happy that I had made the effort to connect with other artists and art. I spend so much time alone working on my art that I sometimes forget how energizing it is to share the experience. If you want to see some more images and video of the show Otto has put it all together here I also really like this photo of me signing the book from the exhibition (that is available at the Phantastenmuseum shop).