Arnulf Rainer
(* 1929 Baden)
He currently lives in Austria and Tenerife.
The documenta artist Arnulf Rainer is considered one of the most innovative abstract painters of the 20th century and is best known for his illustrations of masks, his overpaintings and photographs. Through his technique of destroying the original form, Rainer invents a whole new image and creates, as he says, a symbiosis of old and new. In the 1950s, Rainer experimented with his overpaintings, concealing previously created drawings under layers of paint to create unique, monochrome works. He involved his body in the creation of his works, painted under the influence of drugs and used techniques reminiscent of Viennese Actionism.
Towards the end of the 1950s, Rainer began to paint over photographs of himself, creating expressive, distorted self-portraits. His works from the 1970s dealt with themes such as death, mummies and crucifixions. Rainer received international recognition for his works and he was honoured with the Austrian State Prize for Graphic Arts.
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