Born 1955 in Austria. Living in France, Italy and Austria

About Artberg

During his studies at the Academy of Visual Arts in Vienna, Artberg made an early impression with his original and playful objects and through his sensitive understanding of the artistic concept Happenings. In his first exhibition in the Wiener Secession, he exhibited works and experiments using his painting machine - which had no controls. It was something like a protest against the idea The recipe is the concept. It was obviously aimed at the prevailing art trends which, through conceptualisation and intellectual self-satisfaction, were running the risk of becoming boring and of losing their sensual playfulness.Sensitive criticism, the fight against monotony and attempts to keep open other options became the fundamental philosophy in Artbergs creations. It seems that an unfailing pleading for fantasy and the pure joy of experience make this fight more justified than ever. He is a vehement advocate of a middle way - a humane way. But by this Artberg understands anything but mediocrity; much more are tolerance and an open mind implied. Like him, I also believe that it is ludicrous, after 100 years of the liberation of art from its intellectual constraints, to still try and portray any style and movement as the real truthor appropriate to a particular time. Instead of denouncing this diversity, one should become aware of it and consider it as a present. This is what Artberg does and by means of his own distinctive characteristics, he tries to work in various directions and to blend apparent opposites. In my opinion, the last thing that we need in the present day are specialists with a limited range of vision - not amongst artists either. More important than ever are individualists, creative lateral thinkers and people who try in an unconventional manner to present possible reference points to the meaning of our uncertain existence, in order to create an alternative to an ever-spreading lack of indentity and spiritual dullness.Artbergs objects, pictures and drawings have a broad spectrum. His works are original and difficult, if not impossible, to classify. His painting skills and craftsmanship are astonishing and remind one sometimes of the technical perfection of the old masters - particularly in his egg tempera pictures. Artberg loves the colour. He painstakingly makes the colours himself and thus acquires a special relation to them. His ability graphically and his distinctive feeling for colour together form an extroadinary symbiosis. Artberg is a self-made man, constructing everything himself down to the smallest detail. He builds, prints lithographs in his workshop, makes catalogues and books. Lacking a competent journalist he goes so far as to often write his own reviews, which he signs under a pseudonym. Through his uncompromising actions and critical statements, which he expresses regardless of person or institution, Artberg doesnt only win friends! For example, after some newspaper journalists had made incorrect and incompetent remarks, he presented them with a glass jar containing a pigs brain preserved in formalin, with the inscription Please use. On another occasion, after several unsuccessful applications for an overseas scholarship, he presented to the Ministry a sarcastic request covering 100 years! For years, Artberg has been living the life of a a hermit abroad and works there uninfluenced by the passage of time and fashionable trends on the cultural scene. He spent almost 10 years in France and since 1994 has worked predominantly in New Zealand and in a mountain village in Liguria. Wherever he is, he withdraws as much as possible from civilization.A tireless campaigner against a mafia culture and museum lobbies, Artberg, with his individuality constitutes an important opposite pole to increasingly conformist art. Unfortunately, one meets fewer and fewer of these FREE artists. P.G. 1999 … Read More