Arnulf Rainer

Arnulf Rainer’s committed search for new approaches of painting and his constant development of painterly strategies, accompanied by performative works and extensive writing, has led Arnulf Rainer to become one of the most influential living artists.

In the 70’s he starts to take photographs of himself. Creating a link between the theatrical and the graphic as a media of expression he gets closer to Viennese Actionism and exploring body language through performance he expands his practice to video, and starts using the hands to extend the painting.

Interested in the automatism he based his expressivity in the act of hiding existing images getting closer to abstraction, and to the total concealment of forms. Always emphasizing the human act of painting and the body language that painting involves, Rainer praises the first forms of human expression, and even the format of some canvases exceeds the conventional limits.