This exhibition focuses on the rarely seen drawings and paintings by Friedl Kubelka, known for her conceptual photography and experimental films. The works on paper explore themes of life, death, love, and desire with intimate detail and vibrant color.
Friedl Kubelka, who also works under the pseudonym Friedl vom Gröller for her filmmaking, is internationally recognized for her conceptual photography and experimental short films. This exhibition, however, highlights her less-known but deeply personal body of work consisting of over one hundred drawings and gouaches created since the early 1970s. These fantastical yet realistic small-scale works on paper are surprisingly colorful and delve into the nuances of life, death, love, desire, jealousy, isolation, joy, and exuberance.
The exhibition will feature a selection of these significant works on paper, providing a rare public viewing opportunity. Complementing the drawings and gouaches, a few of her short analog films will also be presented. The show's thematic focal point is Kubelka's studio on Gartengasse, a central location for her artistic practice since 1969, which has also served as a school and therapy space. Across all her media—photography, film, drawing, and painting—Kubelka / vom Gröller maintains an uncompromising exploration of the individual and their emotional world. The immediacy of drawing and painting allows for an unusually intimate, direct, and vulnerable form of expression, meditating on personal memories, desires, crises, and dreams, influenced by figures like Hans Neuffer, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and Franz West, and the style of Fantastic Realism.
