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Alex Ruthner (*1982 in Vienna, AT) lives and works in Vienna, AT, and Los Angeles, CA, US. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in the classes of Peter Kogler and Daniel Richter and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf in the class of Albert Oehlen. He also studied for a year at the Athens Academy of Fine Arts.
In his large-format paintings, Alex Ruthner’s works both figuratively and spatially, depict a variety of situations: strange interiors, urban and natural landscapes; a host of characters, symbols, and displaced memories. A recurring motif in his practice is the still life flower bouquet, which for Ruthner represents an inescapable horror: the fragile temporality of everyday life, from which it seems almost impossible to escape. In these works, Ruthner draws on elements from the traditional still lives of the 16th and 17th centuries and the cycle of metamorphosis, the blossoming of beauty and its transience, and thus on the processual nature of life.
Some of his paintings, are so detailed that he only depicts a random section of a meadow or a field. These most recent works are simultaneously an ode to the beauty of nature. In his most recent works, he subverts the traditional picture plane by painting directly onto duvets. Details of meadows and grasses are distorted and blurred across the puffed grid of this surface, which, with the contrasting associations of oily pigment and domestic comfort, come together in a strange sensory juxtaposition.
Alex Ruthner has had numerous solo exhibitions and has been part of a large number of group exhibitions, including at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK; Galerie Senn, Vienna, AT; Haverkamp Leistenschneider, Berlin, DE; Ibid, Los Angeles, CA, US; Crone Gallery, Berlin, DE.
Born in Vienna, Austria / geboren in Wien, AT
Lives and works in Vienna, Austria and Los Angeles, CA / lebt und arbeitet in Wien, AT und Los Angeles, CA, US
Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, AT
Class of Peter Kogler (New Media)
Class of Daniel Richter (Painting)
Academy of Fine Arts Düsseldorf
Class of Albert Oehlen (Painting)
Erasmus Programme: Athens School of Fine Arts, GR
“I LOVE YOU.“ – „WHAT DOES ‚I‘ MEAN?”, Gabriele Senn, Wien AT
“Volume 1”, Dio Horia, Mykonos, Greece
“Cour: Sommer”, Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin, DE
‘Amygdala Ikebana’, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Wien, AT
‘Fireworks’, Philipp Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin, DE
‘+Soda’, Philipp Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin, DE
‘Playing the piano to a glass of water’, Ibid, Los Angeles, CA, US
‘Ferien’, Grieder Contemporary, Zürich, CH
‘IZ US’, Büro Weltausstellung, Wien, AT
‘Temptation’, Ibid, Los Angeles, US
‘Unreliable Imitation of Life’, Ibid Projects, London, UK und Kunstbuero, Wien, AT
‘Fix’, Millbank Tower, London, UK (Katalog)
‘Teenagerweisheiten’, Büro Weltausstellung, Wien, AT
ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH ABSENCE, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Wien / Vienna
Präsentation Gabriele Senn Galerie, viennacontemporary 2019, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Wien / Vienna Rock Paper Scissors / Schere Stein Papier, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Wien / Vienna
‘Wenig Licht, kein Wasser’, Philipp Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin, DE
Gabriele Senn, Wien, AT
‘the21project‘ , Dio Horia, Athens, GR
‘Overseas BF’, GLOVEBOX , Auckland, NZ
‘Electronic Superhighway (2016-1966)’, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK
‘Time To Fill Up The Glass’, Galerie Crone, Berlin, DE
‘color value vienna #1’, Büro Weltausstellung, Wiener Art Foundation, Wien, AT
‘Different Things Happen / Pathological Hoarding’, Gabriele Senn Galerie, Wien, AT
‘Parallel Vienna 2014’, Altes Zollamt, Wien, AT
‘Wrong floor, 21er Haus’, Wien, AT
‘Unreliable imitation of life’, Ibid, London, UK
1704 Hooper Ave, Los Angeles, CA, US
‘Teenagerweisheit’, Büro Weltaustellung, Vienna, AUT
‘Nature of Speed’, Exit Gallery, Hong Kong
‘DaDa Da Academy’, Art-Athina 2013, Athen, GR
Parallel Vienna, Wien, AT
‘Exposit 2’, Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Wien, AT
‘Make me like it!’, Vacant Galleries, Wien, AT
‘Die Würfel III’, COCO, Wien, AT
Der Grieche am Flutgraben, Berlin, DE
BRUCENNIAL, New York, US
‘9’, Lenikus Collection, Wien, AT
ERSTE Bank Ausstellung, Der Grieche, Berlin, DE
‘GRUPPE’, Studio Mühlgasse, Wien, AT
Galerie Utopia / The forgotten Bar Project, Remap KM 3, Athens, GR
‘EINE Amnesia’, Lenikus Collection, Wien, AT
‘Psychonavigation’, EEG, Leipzig
‘Schimmeliges Brot’, Galerie Schlechtriem, Berlin, DE
‘Lebt und arbeitet in Wien III’, Kunsthalle Wien, Wien, AT
‘the 100th exhibition’, Autocenter, Berlin, DE
‘Saint Ghetto’, REMAP KM 2, Athen, GR
‘Personae’, Atelier Operngasse, Wien, AT
‘peephole approach to artist couples’, Sezession Wichtelgasse, Wien, AT
‘A present is a Gift’, National Museum of Montenegro, Cetinje, ME
‘Apocalyptic Colors’, Galerie Gabriele Senn, Wien, AT
