Tag: Recreation
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wien, the capital of music #WordlessWednesday #snapshot
Vienna, the capital of music, where even the horses jam too. snapshot for #WordlessWednesday by © friedrich zettl
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yes, no coffee today. #WordlessWednesday #snapshot
Yes, we have no coffee today. A Shanghai Starbucks coffeeshop as a failed business. A photo for #WordlessWednesday
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fish and chips #WordlessWednesday #snapshot
Fish and chips Asian style. Negombo, Sri Lanka 2016. Photo for “WordlessWednesday”
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siem reap heartbreakers #WordlessWednesday #snapshot
missing those heartbreakers from siem reap
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electricity buddha #WordlessWednesday #snapshot
a little buddha protects the power supply in sri lanka
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retrieval by nature #WordlessWednesday
Retrieval by nature. Ta Prom, not far from the area where Francis Ford Coppola shot scenes for Apocalypse Now.
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Old Sketchbook – Early Drawings and Quiet Memories
A brief reflection on an old sketchbook. The post shows early drawings, loose lines, small studies and the quiet charm of pages that have travelled through many years. It keeps the tone simple and personal, treating the sketchbook as a companion rather than an object.
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corporate concept #WordlessWednesday
Chaos Investment Company. Shanghai, Putong. A photo for #WordlessWednesday – no words, just pictures. Allow your photos to tell the story.
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just two characters
I recently uploaded a YouTube video exploring my calligraphy, from traditional to asemic styles. Despite my son’s initial doubts about the channel, this step led to an unexpected request from a Chinese editor to create characters for a new book. Drawing inspiration from Zen masters, my designs were well received and quickly led to a…
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Minor, Major and a Video – A Small Musical Note
It has been another busy week. The Chinese have an idiom for this: “qí hǔ nán xià” (it’s hard to dismount when you’re riding the tiger). To step back from this hyperactivity, I am sharing a relaxing video featuring my painted bookmarks, complete with a new intro and outro. I also present a new piece…
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Farewell Beijing, Hello Chongqing: A Traveling Exhibition
Travel memories from China — a 1979 journey up the Yangtze, encounters with painter Xue Mingde, and reflections on decades of change in Chongqing.
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Dreamtellers
The Surrealists really turned my world around. First was André Breton who opened the door to this world for me. Then came the painters like Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico etc.
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How We See – A Short Article on Perception
I share a few thoughts on visual perception and how our habits shape what we see. Using a hollow face illusion, Roy Lichtenstein’s sculptures, and photography by Mike Utley, I compare Western and Asian perspectives. We can see how different cultural backgrounds influence composition, such as using multiple vanishing points or focusing on the communication…
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Ophelia Painting (2022) – A Quiet Contemporary Study
A brief note on a 2022 Ophelia painting. The post comments on mood, composition and the way a familiar motif can be approached in a quiet, contemporary manner. It keeps the tone simple and reflective, paired with the finished piece.
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At Front page of Chinese Newspaper Again
The 光明日报 guangming daily has published a quite detailed report about me, and that on the front page. Last year an article about me, with a focus on calligraphy, appeared in this important newspaper,
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teaser for next exhibition
I’ve been needing a few short video clips for my work for a long time. With a little effort I was able to get something going myself, but then the result was too boring for me and I left this task to someone else.
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My Pyongyang Gig
the last report – promised Now that I’ve started and someone shouted “more”, I would also like to share my Pyongyang experience. But don’t expect a suspenseful story like the one about Kabul. Actually, after Kabul, no stop was dangerous anymore. The most brutal in Pyongyang was the aesthetics (not only in the cityscape…
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My gig in Kabul
not about art – still worth reading In my last blog post, I promised to write about my Kabul trip if there was interest. Here we go: Preliminary remarks By the mid-1980s, I had finished my dissertation and it was time to trade the comfortable student life for respectable work. A friend I had known…
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My Ukraine Contribution – A Small Personal Gesture
Recently, I read about an initiative for artists to paint sunflowers in response to the war in Ukraine. But I am not the type to just paint a given symbol on command. Still, artists must take a stand against barbarism. This led me to create an abstract work based on the classic dove of peace,…
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state of the art 2022
I recently resumed my annual self-portrait series, “state of the art.” Rather than a realistic likeness, these portraits reflect my current mental state and worldview. This latest piece started well, but a sophisticated scam attempt in my online trade distracted me. My annoyance led to a frustrating mistake—leaving fingerprints on wet ink, which ruined some…
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Flyer for my Beijing Exhibition
Flyer for my exhibition in Beijing this spring. Honoring 50 years of cultural exchange between Europe and China.
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snow and ice and corona
I am sharing a few new works and studies that explore the idea of a “snow landscape in lockdown.” Branching out from my ongoing Corona series, these pieces reflect on Austria’s heavy reliance on winter tourism. Lockdowns here determine many fates and spark highly controversial, heated debates. I wanted to capture the sharp contrast between…
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Painting Through Winter Depression
Winter depression through the decades — a personal collection of ink paintings from the 1980s to 2022, and how painting became a coping tool.
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Triptych Variant: A New Version in Ink
A new ink painting created to replace one panel of a recent triptych — and a comparison of both versions side by side.
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New Year’s Pastime
Ringing in the New Year with Chinese calligraphy practice, a poem by Tang Yin, and thoughts on what it really takes to master an art form.
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2021 Year in Review
A look back at 2021 — new publications, an honorary certificate, and two exhibitions in Beijing and Vienna planned for the year ahead.
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Handmade Painted Bookmarks with Dried Flowers
Twenty handmade painted bookmarks combining ink art with pressed flowers and leaves, made during a quiet holiday season.
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Corona and the Sea: Painting the Invisible
Three semi-abstract paintings exploring the invisible reality of Covid-19 through the metaphor of the sea.
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Portrait and Figure Drawings: A Retrospective
Portrait, figure and nude drawings spanning five decades, including drawings made blind in the dark.
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Out of the Blues into the Blue: A Painting on Isolation
The composition clears the way to the blue of the sea and the sky. Perhaps the picture is a little too melodramatic, but a good mood is powerful in its own way. It relies on the tension of opposites—the natural balance of yin and yang—contrasting heavy, dramatic elements with clear, uplifting space to give the…
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Cyprus – Paphos: A Photo Diary
A photo diary from Paphos, Cyprus — faded coastal billboards, a day trip into the mountains, and impressive Orthodox monastery icons.
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Sketches of Chinese Minority People
Forty-year-old charcoal sketches of Chinese minority people from a 1980s journey.
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A Painting Inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s “Reminiscence of Marie A.
A painting inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s poem “Reminiscence of Marie A.”
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A Certificate of Honor for Austrian-Chinese Relations
Receiving a certificate of honor for Austrian-Chinese relations, presented by former President Heinz Fischer.
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My Essay on Qi Baishi in the China Report
A special anniversary publication on the relationship between Austria and China features contributions from prominent figures like Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, and Sebastian Kurz. My own piece is the longest and focuses on the painter Qi Baishi. I wrote it because the Vienna World Museum is receiving an…
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A Painting Inspired by Brecht’s “If Sharks Were People”
A painting inspired by Bertolt Brecht’s satirical story “If Sharks Were People,” transforming sharks into blossoms of predatory innocence.
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Nude Drawing: Academy Studies and Life Drawing
Early academy nude drawings from life-drawing sessions in Beijing, and the struggle to escape the influence of Fritz Martinz.
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Paint Away Pain: Creating an Abstract Painting
In this personal studio reflection, the author describes how painting helped transform a difficult day into an abstract work. Influenced by music and spontaneous brushwork, the painting explores emotion, color, structure and the expressive possibilities of gestural abstraction.
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Recent Work: Day 6/7 — Bookmarks with Pressed Flowers
Dried flowers, leaves and small calligraphic marks in a narrow format: new bookmarks and close-up details exploring colour, spacing and changing backgrounds.
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Recent Work: Day 3/7 — Blossom and Calligraphy
From real leaves and pressed flowers to painted blossoms: a small group of works exploring yellow, black and the rhythms of Chinese calligraphy.
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Recent Work: Day 1/7 — Blue Painted Calligraphy
Blue painted calligraphy made by writing poems by Tang Yin over one another. Day 1 of a seven-part series, with two details showing the overlapping layers.
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A Few Rays of Sunshine for Your Weekend
A woodland picture painted after a walk through the Vienna Woods and a rediscovery of Der Blaue Reiter, with blue-green trunks and warm orange light.
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My Favourite Taoist – Enjoy Your Day!
A cheerful encounter in Shanghai, told in three photographs. From my #WordlessWednesday series.
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An Obsolete Stock Certificate Painted Over with a Mao Poem
A century-old Austrian stock certificate overwritten with a Mao Zedong poem, exploring the decline of empires and the rise of China.
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An Interview in Guangming Daily: My Years in China
An edited English version of my February 2021 Guangming Daily interview, on studying in China, painting, calligraphy, seal cutting and Austrian-Chinese cultural exchange.
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Chinese TV Invited Me to Write a New Year Couplet
A short Chinese TV appearance, a New Year couplet and only two sheets of red paper. Alongside the video: my February 2021 front-page interview in Guangming Daily.
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Withered Leaves and Blossoms
Experiments with dried leaves and flowers, from bookmarks to works on paper and overpainted oil paintings. Calligraphy meets veins, folds and the spaces between fragments.
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Just Blossoms and Buds
Blossoms and buds become small studies in contrast: empty and filled space, stillness and movement, dense colour and delicate edges. Seven works explore how a few forms can hold a painting together.
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Early Woodcuts: From Surrealism to Expressionism
Rediscovering five early woodcuts, I trace the move from Surrealism towards Expressionism. Technically rough in places, the bird, figures, rooftops and animal forms still strike me as expressive.
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A Homage to Gerhard Richter and Hideaki Yamanobe
After seeing Gerhard Richter’s work in Vienna, I made a small graphic drawing on his Cloud and Hideaki Yamanobe’s monotypes. A yellow cloud, morning mist and an uncertain reflection invite a second look.
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Bookmarks – my love for old leaves
Bookmarks were among the first things I made when I returned to painting. Withered leaves, dried flowers and calligraphy offered a small space in which to explore colour, texture and composition again.
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Out of the Dark: An Oil Painting from Post-Cultural Revolution China
An oil painting from my years in China shows children running out of the darkness towards the light. Reproductions in Gerd Kaminski’s book bring it together with other works from my artistic practice.
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The Principle of Balance in Chinese Painting
How can a small bird balance a heavy branch? I explore the relationships between brushstrokes, painted forms and empty space through nine illustrations from Chinese painting and calligraphy.
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Sketches from the Peking Opera
During my studies in Beijing, I often went to the nearby opera house. These charcoal sketches recall the performers—and evenings among an audience eating sunflower seeds.
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Student Prank with Wang Ziwu 王子武
During my studies in Beijing, I copied a painting Wang Ziwu had given a fellow student. A harmless swap became awkward when our professor admired the copy.
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When I First Met Lu Yanshao 陸儼少
Watching Lu Yanshao paint at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing challenged my assumption that the energy of a landscape must come from speed.
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Chinese Seal Carving: History and Key Terms
A small red seal can change the balance of an entire painting. I reflect on my fascination with Chinese seal carving, look at four examples and explain how the stone, its inscription and its printed impression belong together.