Rock'n'Roll to the rescue

Johann Hauser, 1926 – 1996.

One of the artists at Gugging, a psychiatric hospital near Vienna, that became a safe haven for artists who were creative in certain mental conditions; 'zustandsgebundene Kunst', to be seen in Gugging, at the 'Haus der Künstler' – Art / Brut Center.

Intermission

Spent a few days at Lago di Garda, Italy; shot some 500 photographs – not ready to upload any yet.

So here is a 'stock photo' from one of the webcams of Grossglockner High Alpine Road, from a foggy day way back in July of this year. Enjoy ;–)!

Werner Otte, *1922/9/4

"Hoffnung auf Regen", 1974; acrylic on canvas, 55 x 75cm.

Found at: artnet.de

Hoping for kind permission to use the reproduction in memory of a great artist.

It is his birthday today; let's celebrate an artist who was not 'just' a craftsman; he also was a master of acrylic painting.

When this was a new technique, Otte experimented with it. His sons remember a stone flag covered with layers and layers of acrylic paint that sat out in the garden in wind, rain, frost, and snow – placed there in order to see how the material would wither.

With "Hoffnung auf Regen" Otte had mastered the technique; transparent layers of colour, 'altmeisterlich', as the Germans would say. And a fine example of Otte after his 'abstract turn'.

There is always landscape involved in those abstract works and forms hovering freely above the horizon.

As a regular to the small provincial town of Rauris with its institutions of Literaturtage and Malertage, Otte made friends with Austrian writer H. C. Artmann who in his medium of prose and poetry was a close relation in his perception of the world.

I see the light come shining

The Spirit of Mozart as seen by sculptor Marina Abramovich. We humble mortals are expected to sit in those earth-bound chairs while meditating Mozart's greatness in that towering steel inferno. No comment otherwise while I meditate on the concrete poetry of bike & foot paths around Staatsbrücke.

Reflections

Night over "Amadeus"

It's not actually our river boat, it's the café on the landing bridge, most colourfully illuminated with city lights in the background.

Dusk over Salzburg