Description
Arnulf Rainer, born in 1929 in Baden bei Wien, is regarded worldwide as a pioneer of Art Informel. This anniversary exhibition honors his ninety-fifth birthday by spotlighting two special series: the earliest works from the 1940s and 1950s and his central body of works, the cross-shaped overpaintings, which Rainer has worked on unceasingly since the 1950s.
Layer by layer of paint, painting by painting, the artist explores the interconnections between creation and destruction, beginning and end, death and resurrection. Produced are works that radiate a unique, profound power, even if the original motif remains mostly hidden from view.
The neoclassical architecture of the Frauenbad building with its marble-clad bathing rooms, offers a unique setting for presenting the works, in particular the monumental, cross-shaped canvasses. These works were donated to the state of Lower Austria in 2024 by the internationally renowned art collector Helmut Zambo and are part of a generous gift comprising around 300 works by Arnulf Rainer.
The exhibition title—Das Nichts gegen Alles / Nothingness Against Everything—is borrowed from Arnulf Rainer’s early verse Perspektiven der Vernichtung (Perspectives of Destruction) from 1951:
A choice: silence
against poetry, loss
against possession, absence
against oneself.
Death against life.
The other against the world.
Nothingness against everything.
This reflects not only the dialectical nature of Rainer’s working method but also his aspiration to touch on the very foundations of human existence with his art.
For 15 years now, the Arnulf Rainer Museum in the former "Frauenbad" in Baden has been presenting the multi-layered oeuvre of the artist, who was born in Baden in 1929, in monographic and thematic exhibitions.
Curators: Nikolaus scratch, Helmut Zambo
Exhibition duration: November 23rd, 2024 – October 5th, 2025
Exhibition catalogue
Arnulf Rainer. The Nothing Against Everything
Anniversary volume for Arnulf Rainer's 95th birthday
This catalog highlights 95 of the artist's works. All of them come from the Zambo Collection. They are divided into nine groups with short introductory texts: Surrealist Phase, Blind Drawings (Centralizations, Vertical Arrangements, Atomizations), Overpaintings, Rauscharbeiten, Crosses & Death Masks, Finger Painting, Neo-Fantasy, Face Farces & Body Poses, and Veil Pictures. The illustrated section is preceded by a detailed art-historical essay by Nikolaus Kratzer on Rainer's oeuvre.
The exhibition catalog is illustrated with examples of poster designs, invitation cards, and exhibition views from the Zambo Archive.