Gert Gschwendtner

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Gert Gschwendtner (born October 6, 1949 in Lenggries in Upper Bavaria ) is a German action artist , sculptor and painter . He lives and works in Sevelen , Canton St. Gallen .

Life

In the early 1970s, Gschwendter studied art, art history and education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and at the University of Belgrade . In the years that followed, the focus on the works of Joseph Beuys , the Fluxus movement and radical constructivism intensified . At the beginning of the 1980s, in addition to teaching as an art teacher, he began working as a sculptor, painter and action artist. He based his extensive work on his early preoccupation with Buddhism .

The first contact with Buddhism was encouraged by his neighbor and friend Günther Eich , who inspired the young Gschwendtner for Japanese Zen Buddhism . Shaped by these experiences, he became a practicing Buddhist himself, lived in Tibet and India and helped set up Buddhist centers in Switzerland and Austria.

His teaching activities soon expanded from school art education to university teaching. He taught art history and visual design at the University of Liechtenstein and the University of Innsbruck .

Observer figure

Gschwendtner's visual language tries to reflect the complexity of perception. The focus of his work is the culture of observation, which is shown in Gschwendtner's art figures, the observer figures. They look into our everyday life from their art world and observe us in our artificiality.

Inspired by examining the works of Beuys and Merz , the first observer figures emerged on the side of the Tuscan roads. The fictional characters have shaped his work since then and can be found in interiors such as gardens in Italy, Austria and Germany. Probably the most formative collection of observer figures can be found on the mountain of thought in Sevelen, Switzerland.

Mountain of thoughts

The thought mountain sculpture park opened in May 2015 on Storchenbüel, a hill in Sevelen, Switzerland. The public park invites visitors to walk in their own thoughts on a path along sculptures. Sculptural elements, rock drawings, figures, architectural set pieces and texts enter into dialogue with the geological structures, the plants and the view of the surrounding panorama.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 2016: Large tool case, Vadiana Cantonal Library , St. Gallen, CH
  • 2013: Shadow papers, Steyrermühl Paper Museum, AT
  • 2013: Viewer, Galerie Halle Linz, AT
  • 2012: Retrospective Gert Gschwendtner, Mezzanine Foundation Schaan, LI
  • 2011: Morgenland for a future suitable for grandchildren with the tool case, Berliner Liste 2011, Berlin, DE
  • 2006: Performance marble slides with stone music, Natters, with Arthur Schneiter, AT
  • 2003: Utopia: Loss, Shift Change Vaduz, LI
  • 2000: Decision-making room, Peace Museum Lindau, DE
  • 1999: Mygo meets Mypu, performance with Dmitri Prigov , Lew Rubinstejn , Sergej Letow for the Goethe Pushkin Year, Moscow, RU
  • 1996: Imaginary gardens, installation for the horticultural exhibition, Bad Kissingen, DE
  • 1988: Sight protection, Palais Liechtenstein, Feldkirch, AT
  • 1988: Thresholds, Art and Communication Gallery, Munich, DE

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ “It can't go on like today” . In: “du” magazine , June 2016 issue, p. 88.
  2. ↑ Gert Gschwendtner: Viewer figures. In: Website Gert Gschwendtner. Gert Gschwendtner, accessed on September 28, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Jocelyne Iten: Mind Mountain, Sevelen. In: Bellevue NZZ. NZZ, June 17, 2017, accessed on September 28, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Gert Gschwendtner: mountain of thoughts. In: Website Gert Gschwendtner. Gert Gschwendtner, accessed on September 28, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Gschwendtner, Gert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German action artist, sculptor and painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 6, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Lenggries in Upper Bavaria