Yellow-Blue 2002-03
Oil on canvas
171 x 230cm
1954 Austrian
Hirtl’s consistent artistic engagement with philosophical concepts, such as time, space, interior/exterior, language, self, meaning, heart, soul, spirit, has led to a rich, impressive, and very expressive oeuvre of paintings that defy postmodern categories and that definitely demand the viewer’s thoughtful reflection.
Claudia Hirtl’s art is situated along borderlines without accepting borders; it crosses through western and eastern modes of thought trying to contextualize and comprehend one through the other; it applies Hirtl’s own form of Nihonga to large-format and/or multiple-panel canvases; it incorporates Japanese ideograms, kanji, into western abstraction; it playfully adopts the graphic strokes of ideograms and transforms the scriptural sign into an image, which in turn consciously dissolves the signifier and thus the meaning of the sign; and her art has the western viewer encounter an alluring enigma prompting a desire for deciphering, but being able to “read” the ideogram will not help. Identifying the sign does not mean you understand the sign.
Hirtl’s paintings demand a viewer’s concentration and his or her letting go of habitual patterns of perception; they transform the canvas into a visual prompt for meditation; they give color to transcendence, and they offer the viewer the experience of the sublime.
1985 - 1988 M.A., Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku - Tokyo National University of Arts and Music, Tokyo, Japan; 1983 - 1981 Instituto Statale D' Arte Urbino, Italy; 1980 - 1981 Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, France; 1976 - 1980 M.A., Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria, Painting; 1973 - 1976 Teacher's Diploma Pedagogical Academy, Innsbruck, Austria
PERMANENT INSTALLATIONS and EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
(2017) Kulturinstitut Bozen; (2016) ZEITKUNST,Kitzbühel, Sommerpräsentation/Nacht der Museen,
Susan Boutwell Galerie München, (2014)‘YAM‘ See,Wave / Installation RZB Kitzbühel, Austria; (2013) perspective / fernsicht | lontananze, Journeys of Tyrolean and Trentino Artists from 1800 to Today, Museum of the City of Bruneck,Italy, Galerie am POLYLOG, Wörgl, Tirol, HIRTL.ZEIT-WEISEN,Premiere Portrait-Documentary-Film, Cinematograph/Leo Cinema Innsbruck; (2012) Art-Cocktail / Painting-Installation: Lounge of the Federal Council, Austrian Parlament, Vienna; (2011) Summershow, Galerie Ulysses, Vienna, ‘YAM Val/Wave/Welle‘, KIBLA, Maribor; (2009) ‘ALS‘, ZEITKUNST, Kitzbühel, with Markus F. Strieder; (2008) 'Zum Selbst Kommen', Galerie Schloss Parz, Upper Austria; (2007) ‘Exzerpt‘, Galerie artmark, Vienna; (2006) )‘Reflexionen‘,Galerie Wofgang Exner, Vienna; (2004) ‘KRAFTWERK peripher’, Tiwag-Imst, Tirol; (2003) Commission for the OKAMURA Collection, Tokyo, Japan; ‘ZUSAMMENGETRAGEN', Collection Institute of Art History at the University of Innsbruck at RLB Kunstbrücke, Innsbruck; (2002) ‘FIGURES OF SPEECH or SILENCE OF THE AFTER-GLIMPSE' Kunsthalle Salt Depot of the City of Hall, Tirol; ‘VARIABLE STÜCKE Strukturen, Referenzen, Algorithmen’, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck;‘PR-HIRTL’, Austrian Embassy, Tokyo; (2001) ’LEBENS-FLUSS oder im dazwischen’, permanent Installation, Landeskrankenhaus Salzburg; (2000) 'INNEN/AUSSEN – Nebensätze', ZEITKUNST, Kitzbühel; 'MALEREI-österreichische KünstlerInnen JETZT’, Suppan Contemporary, Albertina, Vienna, Szepmüveszeti Muzeum, Budapest; Special Edition “YAM”, Collection Paper Works, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; 'Special Edition Kofu', New Library, permanent Installation, Yamanashi University, Kofu City, Japan; (1999) ‘Re-View’, Matsumoto Collection Shinjuku, permanent Installation, Tokyo, Japan; (1998) ‘NEUMEN * motion/flow-Signs moved’, permanent kinetic painting installation, YGU - University, Kofu, Japan; (1997) ‘BILD - BILDER’ 1990-1996', Semperdepot, Vienna; (1996) ‘YAM Special Edition Jerusalem’, Phenomena Festival Jerusalem, Israel; ‘Sicht der Dinge 4: Zentrum & Peripherie', Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck; (1995) Tsuda Painting Installation - Wakayama, Osaka, Japan; (1994) ‘G.Palffy - IN SITU’, Tokyo, Japan; Budapest, Ungarn; (1992) ‘HIRTL-MALEREI’, Kunstpavillon Innsbruck; (1991) 'VAMED', AKH - General Hospital, permanent Installation, Vienna; (1990) X-ist Gallery, Vienna; ‘Wider-Schein’, Tiroler Landesmuseum, Innsbruck; 'HIRADO', permanent Installation, Kyushu, Japan; (1989) Lunami Gallery, Tokyo; (1988) ‘KIN’, Kaneko-Bullman, Taipei, Taiwan; ‘MALEREI’, Galerie Zeitkunst, Innsbruck; (1987) Stockman Pacific, Osaka, Japan; (1986) 'Kontakta 86', OAG Haus, Tokyo; Geidai Bijutsu Daigaku Gallery, Tokyo; Amaury St. Gilles Gallery, Tokyo; (1985) 'Kontakta 85', OAG Haus, Tokyo; (1984) Galerie Elefant, Innsbruck; (1982) Galerie Elefant, Vienna.
(Selected)
Albertina, Vienna; Austrian National Library; Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum; Stift Admont; Cooper Union New York; Matsumoto Collection, Shinjuku, Tokio; Hirado, Kyushu, Japan; YGU – Kofu, Japan; Collection Fujinawa, Tokyo; Pfizer Collection USA; Gilbert Collection NYC; ERSTE Bank; Wiener Städtische; Donau Versicherung; Wirtschaftskammer Tirol; RLB Innsbruck; RZB Innsbruck; HYPO Innsbruck; RZB Kitzbuehel; Tiroler Sparkasse Innsbruck; MUSA Artothek Vienna; Museum Liaunig; H.Uscategui Collection Seattle, as well as numerous private collections.
FILMS
(2003 - 2013) ‘HIRTL.ZEIT-WEISEN’,zircon_coelin_prod. Filmportrait by Ch. Ljubnaovic,;(1998) ‘YAM Special Edition Jerusalem’ - an Artist's Book/Video Edition, Co-operation Hirtl/Ljubanovic - Vienna / Paris; (1998) Film ‘ANTINOMY’ – ACCRUE / world production; (1998) HIRTL - Artist's film: ‘worte konstruieren wirklichkeiten’; (1990) Artist's film:‘PAINTING1981-90-The Raleationality of Being:The Painting of Claudia Hirtl’