Award ceremony

Erwin Wurm honored with major Josef Krainer Prize

Erwin Wurm was awarded the great Josef Krainer Prize.

(Bild: APA/Georg Hochmuth)

Just in time for his 70th birthday in summer, the exceptional Styrian-born artist Erwin Wurm was awarded the Josef Krainer Prize by Governor Christopher Drexler and Gerald Schöpfer on Thursday.

With his "One-Minute-Sculptures", the "Fat Cars" and "Fat Houses", his giant cucumbers or his compressed parental home, Erwin Wurm, born in Bruck an der Mur, the son of a policeman, has come a long way. He is considered Austria's best-known and most successful living artist.

Numerous awards
The artist, who lives and works in Lower Austria, is not short of awards either - now, in addition to the Otto Mauer Prize, the Art Prize of the City of Graz, the Appreciation Prize of the Province of Styria and the State Prize for Fine Arts, he has also received the major Josef Krainer Prize, which was presented to Wurm on Thursday by Governor Christopher Drexler and the Chairman of the "Josef Krainer - Styrian Memorial", Gerald Schöpfer.

Erwin Wurm in front of his truck sculpture

(Bild: ANSA)

Incidentally, the Albertina in Vienna is organizing an extensive exhibition to celebrate Erwin Wurm's 70th birthday from 13 September. In Styria, you can marvel at his "Fat Car" and his "Fat House" in the sculpture park in Premstätten, the government room in the castle is adorned with his sweater sculpture, the museum at Admont Abbey has pictures of his "One-Minute-Sculptures", and if all goes well, his truck standing on its snout, which won Biennale honors in Venice, could one day find its final home in the Reininghaus district of Graz.