Wolfgang Ernst (artist)

Wolfgang Ernst (born April 24, 1942 in Vienna ) is an Austrian object artist. He lives in Pulkau in Lower Austria.

Ernst is self-taught . He initially completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter before moving to Paris in 1961. He worked as a designer of shop windows and exhibition stands. Under the influence of his wife, who studied at the art academy, he began to turn to the fine arts. After a short period of painting, he dealt with avant-garde art forms such as minimal art , land art , object art and conceptual art . His objects and installations are based on the intentions of Arte Povera by bringing together contrasting materials such as steel and grass or lead and glass.

From the end of the 1960s he belonged to the group of artists represented by the Wiener Galerie next St. Stephan. This group included u. a. also Hans Hollein and Walter Pichler . He was close to the Viennese group around Oswald Wiener and the Viennese Actionism with artists such as Rudolf Schwarzkogler , Hermann Nitsch , Günter Brus and Otto Muehl .

Some of his first exhibitions and appearances in Austria and Germany were of a spectacular nature, such as the Aktion Audience (s) sprenger, which he organized in Munich in 1969 together with Valie Export and Peter Weibel .

From the mid-1970s, Wolfgang Ernst's work was increasingly determined by scriptural factors and concepts. Characters and rhythmic scribbles are included in graphic and plastic works, as well as music and multimedia elements. Also as a designer of book covers etc. a. he has made a name for himself on works by de Sade and Georges Bataille for the Matthes & Seitz publishing house . He does not see himself as an illustrator, but as an artist of equal rank. His designs are based on an intensive examination of the author and his works, which is increasingly manifested in his own texts.

At the same time, Ernst increasingly refused the art business and finally retired in 2000 to the seclusion of a small village in Croatian Istria, where he bought two small vineyards and made a name for himself as a winemaker for a few years. His wines, vinified in an extremely traditional manner and strictly organically grown, which he brought to market under the Creator Spiritus label , quickly enjoyed cult status among wine connoisseurs and winemakers in Germany and Austria. After lengthy arguments with the Croatian wine authorities, who rejected his critically acclaimed wines as faulty, he sold the winery in 2007 and left the country. Since then he has lived and worked in a restored baroque mill in the Weinviertel near the Czech border.

Solo exhibitions

(Selection)

• 1969 White Line, Breitenbrunn, Burgenland
• 1970 Objects Projects, Gallery next St. Stephan, Vienna
• 1970 Württembergischer Kunstverein (installation), Stuttgart
• 1971 Works 1970–73, Galerie next St. Stephan, Vienna
• 1976 Inge Baecker Gallery, Bochum
• 1999 Wolfgang Ernst, Galerie Eugen Lendl
• 2002 Light Fragments, Galerie Kunst & Handel, Graz
• 2007 art is uninteresting complete, Galerie Philipp Konzett, Vienna
• 2007 Blue Chips, Galerie Philipp Konzett, Vienna

Participation in exhibitions

(Selection)

• 1968 New dimensions of plastic in Austria, Taxis Palais Innsbruck
• 1969 Underground Explosion (with Valie Export & Peter Weibel), Munich and Zurich
• 1969 Surrealism without Surrealists, Gallery Next St. Stephan, Vienna
• 1998 Beyond art - Voorbij de kunst Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst (MuHKA), Antwerp
• 1999 Lineamente International - From the line to the drawing Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz
• 2002 "Autumn / Winter Collection 2002", Ariadne Gallery, Vienna
• 2003 M_ARS - Art and War Neue Galerie Graz at the Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz
• 2004 Support - The Neue Galerie as a collection - 1950 - Today Neue Galerie Graz at the Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz
• 2009 MONO, POLY, KONKRET, Galerie Konzett, Vienna

Web links

• artfacts.net: Wolfgang Ernst