Died at the age of 85

Artist Günter Brus deceased at the age of 85

Günter Brus in his Bruseum, which opened in Graz in 2011.

(Bild: Universalmuseum Joanneum/C. Nestroy)

To his limits and a considerable distance beyond - that was something like Günter Brus' motto in life. Born in Ardning on September 27, 1938, the world-class Styrian artist died on Saturday at the age of 85. And thus closed an entire chapter in art history.

It all began in a very classical way. Günter Brus was a talented draughtsman, which brought him to the School of Applied Arts in Graz. His excellent degree enabled him to attend the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna. There he saw works of Austrian early expressionism for the first time, which made a strong impression on him. And triggered something: the desire to break away from the classic panel painting and create works that scream, stomp and hiss. Brus detached himself from the painting, moved on to the events surrounding the creation of a picture and thus founded a body art that was to have a real impact in the years that followed.

Together with like-minded people, he turned actionism into an outcry against a society still dominated by former Nazis. And Brus was one of its most radical representatives. On June 7, 1968, he carried out one of his body analyses in Lecture Hall 1 at Vienna University as part of the "Art and Revolution" event.

The famous "Viennese walk" from his actionist period.

(Bild: Markus Tschepp)

A scandal broke out and the artist was sentenced to the maximum penalty of six months "strict arrest". With his wife Anna and their two-year-old daughter Diana, he flees to Berlin, where some Actionists have already founded an enclave. He organized his last action there in 1970. During the "ordeal", he reached a level of self-harm that could only be escalated to death.

It was not only out of love for his family that Brus ended this self-destructive activity and turned to a completely different form of expression. In a combination of drawings and texts, he created the genre of "picture-poetry", in which both components are of equal value. Thousands of sheets were created in this way, both in cycles and as solitary works. He also found time to design stage sets and costumes.

Works on show in Europe, Australia and the USA
His strength was not only his exuberant imagination and his never-ending spirit of struggle and contradiction, but also his ability to collaborate with other artists. His work has been shown at countless exhibitions in Europe, Australia and the USA, including the Venice Biennale and several times at the documenta in Kassel, Germany. And, of course, in his Bruseum at the Neue Galerie in Graz, the museum that opened in 2011 and was already a monument to him during his lifetime.

And, of course, the once ostracized artist gradually began to receive awards, including the Grand Austrian State Prize for Fine Arts in 1996, the Oskar Kokoschka Prize in 2004 and the Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold of the Province of Styria with the Star in 2013.

Despite some serious health problems, Brus worked until the end and even created a surprising late work. With his death, an artist has now passed away who made a significant contribution to Austrian art history. A loss that leaves an immense gap.