Hundertwasser – Artist and Eco-Activist
01 Feb - 01 Jun 2014
HUNDERTWASSER – ARTIST AND ECO-ACTIVIST
1 February - 1 June 2014
I want to show how basically simple it is to have paradise on earth.
Hundertwasser, 1975
So said the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000), whose heart beat fondly for the liberation of nature and mankind. He was a painter, eco-activist and architect who with his pictures, manifestos and fairytale build¬ings wanted to make the world a better place. Hundertwasser’s spectrum includes mixed brightly coloured spirals, golden cupolas and wild-growing trees with things as down-to-earth as humus toilets, nettle soup and home-sewn clothes. In his time he was controversial. Today, with his ideas on green architecture, ecology and ‘urban gardening’, he is more topical than ever.
Art that takes a stand
Hundertwasser’s paintings and his buildings both look like living organisms. They grow before our eyes. He scorned geometrically straight lines and sad, monotonous housing. The twisting spiral shape recurs in his colourful pictures, and his exuberant buildings are full of plants. With paintings, prints, design, archi¬-tectural models, films, photos and quotations the exhibition guides us into the artist’s enchanting imaginative universe.
1 February - 1 June 2014
I want to show how basically simple it is to have paradise on earth.
Hundertwasser, 1975
So said the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000), whose heart beat fondly for the liberation of nature and mankind. He was a painter, eco-activist and architect who with his pictures, manifestos and fairytale build¬ings wanted to make the world a better place. Hundertwasser’s spectrum includes mixed brightly coloured spirals, golden cupolas and wild-growing trees with things as down-to-earth as humus toilets, nettle soup and home-sewn clothes. In his time he was controversial. Today, with his ideas on green architecture, ecology and ‘urban gardening’, he is more topical than ever.
Art that takes a stand
Hundertwasser’s paintings and his buildings both look like living organisms. They grow before our eyes. He scorned geometrically straight lines and sad, monotonous housing. The twisting spiral shape recurs in his colourful pictures, and his exuberant buildings are full of plants. With paintings, prints, design, archi¬-tectural models, films, photos and quotations the exhibition guides us into the artist’s enchanting imaginative universe.