Modern Art - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2015 - 80 Euro Cent

Harmony and irritation, structure and chance - these parameters characterize the work of Svenja Deininger presented on this special stamp. Born in Vienna in 1974, the artist studied in Münster and Düsseldorf and has received awards including the Georg Eisler Prize from Bank Austria, the Strabag Art Award and the Steep Rock Arts Residency. Geometric forms are a popular and frequently occurring motif in Svenja Deininger's oeuvre, they are used in contrasting layers and different surface qualities. It almost seems as if the paintings are starting to move - but the materials used by Deininger do not want to tell anything; At first glance, they seem logical and yet open up mysterious pictorial spaces. Deininger does not want to be seen as either abstract or figurative - she rather wants to visualize a higher idea. "It questions materials, techniques and demands for objectivity and abstraction and wins aesthetic solutions from this conflict situation," reads a text accompanying an exhibition at the Kunsthalle Wien. Thus, dissonances and deliberately set irritations become part of the work. Picture ideas, which are fixed in advance, are not Deininger's cause, rather it is based on shadows, colors, situations or quotes from other paintings. She layered layer by layer, color over color, painted over and exposed again. The many layers are visible from time to time, different materials always bring a surprising variety. "I follow in a picture different painting styles that co-exist. They are partly not finished, I destroy their results, until they suddenly reconnect "- that's how Deininger describes her process-like way of working.