Austrian artist Manfred Wakolbinger, born 1952, trained as a metal worker and tool maker before turning to art. Following first steps in jewellery design, he moved on to sculpture and photography, later also to video art. Many of his sometimes voluminous sculptures were created for public spaces. The submarine world has captured his particular interest in photography and video. Wakolbinger’s art is organic and conveys an inner poetry, yet it remains enigmatic even when it becomes concrete and figurative. This book features a selection Wakolbinger’s works in photography and sculpture since 2012, accompanied by a conversation between the artist and curator Jasper Sharp. An essay on the topic of language in his art by scholar and critic Cornelia Offergeld and a text by celebrated Austrian novelist Christoph Ransmayr describe and interpret the recent oeuvre by one of Austria’s most distinguished contemporary artists.
Text in English and German.
AUTHORS: Cornelia Offergeld lives and works in Vienna as a freelance writer, critic, and curator. Christoph Ransmayr is one of Austria’s most celebrated novellists. He lives in Vienna.
Jasper Sharp is adjunct curator of modern and contemporary art at Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Alfred Weidinger is director of Museum der bildenden Kunste in Leipzig.
86 colour, 52 b/w illustrations