Anna Meyer

25.04.–29.05.2018

On several visits to Graz and the surround- ing area, Anna Meyer produced photo- graphs, drawings and initial sketches. Back in her studio in Vienna, she transferred some of the motifs to larger formats and three-dimensional architectural models. Some of the objects she painted appear in the exhibition Graz Architecture, whilst others are new additions made by the artist. Anna Meyer begins with the transition zones between the house, animals and humans, with hybrid architecture. In her paintings and models, the wall becomes skin, the structure is bone, the house has similarities with a human being. On the other hand, however, the skin becomes a wall, the bones form a structure, the person becomes a house. Meyer focuses on buildings with an amorphous character, such as the refectory of the School Sisters Convent designed by Huth/Domenig, or the Kunsthaus Graz by Cook and Fournier. At first glance, the Zusertal House by Szyszkowitz + Kowalski almost looks as though it is attached to its surroundings by means of a kind of umbilical cord. Yet the present as portrayed by Meyer is anything but rosy - it has more of an apocalyptic feel to it. Familiar elements are alienated with regard to their size and colour, and exaggerated. Idyllic scenarios are placed alongside threatening ones, and the friendly alien finally turns out to be not so friendly when we read the inscription ‘Hi, ich schaff euch alle (Hi, I will get you all).’ In the objects, the principle of hybridity between human, animal and house, between painting and architecture, becomes clearer still when Meyer creates animal-like architectural models from packaging, empty water bottles, or cream jars, reworking them in a painterly manner. In Anna Meyer’s paintings, objects and installations, the perception of (urban) reality is characterised by the superimposition of various elements of a global consumer culture and the threat of social decay.

Barbara Steiner

Anna Meyer
Kurze Biografie / Short Biography:

Geboren 1964 in Schaffhausen (CH), lebt in Wien (AT) Born in 1964 in Schaffhausen (CH), lives in Vienna (AT).
Ausstellungen und Projekte ( Auswahl) / Exhibitions and projects (selected): 2017 Graz Architektur. Rationalisten, Ästheten, Magengrubenarchitekten, Demokraten, Mediakraten, Kunsthaus Graz, AT; Digitale Wesen befahlen, Galerie mera, Schaffhausen; Weiche Profile, Kunstraum Weikendorf; Art in Public Space Lower Austria; Curated by, Krobath Wien (group exhibition); 2016 Stupid Painting, Stop your Sobbing Kluckyland, Vienna; 2015 Sein oder Online, Krobath Berlin; 2013 Time Wounds all Healers, Galerie Maçka, Istanbul; Paint to Politain 2, Jesuitenfoyer, Vienna; Angestellt in der Firma Welt, Cham- ber of Labour, Vienna, outdoor billboard; 2011 PAINT TO POLITAIN, NACHKRISENMALEREI, Kunstverein Schaffhausen/ Galerie mera.