Artist Eric Fischl is profiled in the Financial Times, and speaks about his current retrospective at the Albertina, his life and career, and the reception of his work by both collectors and museums.  “I very naively thought as a young artist that the work I was doing was not suited for individuals to live with because it had such harsh content, Fischl says, “but I thought museums would want it because it is about the truth of life. Turned out to be the opposite. Museums are afraid of sexual content.” (more…)

Sarah Lucas, NOB (Installation View), via Secession

Vienna’s Secession gallery is currently presenting a show of new work by artist Sarah Lucas, including a set of large-format sculptures, an immersive installation and a number of large scale photographs that fit well within Lucas’s well-established body of work.  Exploring the political and psychological affects of various objects and sexual innuendoes, this time focused on the male genitalia, Lucas’s exhibition, titled Nob closes next week.

Gelatin, NOB (Installation View), via Secession (more…)

Filmmaker Jem Cohen’s recently opened Museum Hours has garnished considerable attention, setting a story of friendship and art within Vienna’s Kunsthistoriches Museum.  “The use of the Kunsthistorisches is heartfelt and also very funny,” Says film critic Christoph Huber, “a slice of everyday life that I hardly see covered in my national cinema.” (more…)

Artist Egon Schiele’s first diary, written when he was a boy of 16, living in Austria, is slated for publication this month, part of Dr. Christian Bauer’s new book Egon Schiele: The Beginning.  The notebooks feature poetry to his early loves, as well as drawings and sketches from the very beginning of his career.  On one page, Schiele writes: “You rosy, enchanting creature,/ Seeing you makes my heart ache./…In a short line – I love you.” (more…)

Image courtesy Wien Belvedere

Franz West, the iconic Austrian sculptor who was known for bucking trends, has died at age 65. Mr. West resided in Vienna, and according to his family, had been enduring a long battle with liver disease when he finally succumbed on Wednesday.

Image courtesy the Public Art Fund

(more…)

Cindy Sherman, Untitled (1975). All images via Art Phalanx (© Cindy Sherman).

Vienna’s Sammlung Verbund is currently showing nearly fifty early Cindy Sherman photographs at their Vertical Gallery. The exhibition, That’s me – That’s not me, concentrates on works that Sherman produced before moving to New York City in 1977. They thus offer a rare glimpse into the artist’s formative years, and predate her more well-known Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980), which critics and art historians have traditionally taken to be Sherman’s foundational works.

Cindy Sherman, Untitled (ABCDE) (1975/1985)

(more…)