21.4.2009—20.9.2009
MAK Permanent Collection Contemporary Art

Franz Graf defines his studio, where he produces his art, as a living space, and in his conceptually shaped works, breaks through genre- and media-specific borders. The artist cross links drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, spatial concept, as well as works with text and sound to materialized thought formations whereby he reacts to contexts in the private and public space, in the political and sociological environment. His mode of operation includes aspects such as taking recourse to his archive of documents, drawings, and photographs as well as the examination of language and literature. His motifs sketch out the humane in emotion, memory, and presence. Focus is on the aesthetic of things, which Graf employs as a poetic dimension, as it were.

Exhibition Franz Graf, Peter Noever
Curator Bärbel Vischer


The series ARTISTS IN FOCUS shows the essential work groups of key contemporary artists in dedicated solo presentations. A crucial aspect here is the carrying out of necessary acquisitions through sponsors to extend and expand positions already in the collection. Such purchases have become impossible due to the MAK's precarious financial situation since the transformation of the museum into a state scientific institution.

#1 Arnulf Rainer | #2 Alfons Schilling | #3 Padhi Frieberger | #4 Franz West | #5 Heimo Zobernig | #6 Franz Graf | #7 Liam Gillick