Kurt Ryslavy (cv)

 




Kurt Ryslavy was born in Graz, Austria on March 6, 1961.

In 1979 Kurt Ryslavy began his study at the University of Vienna (philosophy) and at the University for Applied Arts Vienna. His teachers were Herbert Hrachovec and Oswald Oberhuber – he dropped out of both programs.

In 1981 he moved to Salzburg. There he worked on texts, collages and aquarels, in combination with photography. In the same year he went back to Vienna and met the artist Franz West. There he showed results of his work he had done in Salzburg. In 1983 he chose two working places – Boissano (Morat-foundation Liguria) and Judendorf-Strassengel (Styria) – where he worked in alternation. In Vienna he founded the « Eintagsfliegenorgan », a working and exhibiting-cooperative with Thomas Angerer.

He spent all the summers between 1981 and 1986 in an abandoned mountain pasture in Dachstein, which was only accessible by small and dangerous footpaths. Hundreds of drawings, works on paper and texts were created. The Antiquariat Wögenstein showed part of this series. Heike Curtze Gallery showed work from Liguria, and Dieter Roth turned out to be one of the first collectors purchasing works by Ryslavy.

In 1987 Kurt Ryslavy moved to Brussels, to become a writer. His books were edited in cooperation with editors in Bremen, Berlin and Ghent. Several stays for production in these towns included: « Vierzeiler » (1986), « Yes, Ja-passende Texte » (1987), « Kurze Geschichten von vorne nach hinten » (1988), « Les formes de complexit » moyenne attirent notre attention » (1989), « One fucking Move » (1989).

Two years later, in 1989, his work began to transform structurally: a « blind tasting » was part of a solo exhibition in Ghent and provoked the public. As a consquence of the acquisition of real estate in 1990 and as a reaction to the Gulf War, Ryslavy founded a « respectable living as a wine merchant » in 1991. He does installation and contextual works concerned with phenomena of perception. At the end of 1992, a one man show in the Wiener Secession (Main room and Ver Sacrum room) showed this working period – with an introduction by the famous comic actor Gerhard Polt. The unique concept for a contemporary art show attracted a mass-public unknown for the Secession.

In 1993, while Ryslavy is teaching at Marmara University in Istanbul, he realizes a series of exhibitions for five towns in Turkey and a public (Islam) beyond occidental perception of contemporary western art. In 1994 a similar exhibition-concept is realized in Alto Adige, zone of three languages in Südtirol, as « Clash of cultural Matter-of-Factness» (entrance exclusively reserved for donators of the Red Cross).

In 1994 he creates the video « Sonntagsmaler » (sunday painter; peintre du dimanche) and the installation with the same title.

In 1995, the first « factures décoratives » appear – wine bills from his professional life as a wine dealer, painted with oil on canvas. From this work that integrates parts of society beyond the art world he formulates cynical commentaries on the « truth of art ». At the same time he began the series « le monochrome avec son arrière-plan économique » – paintings of bills, resulting from real wine sales to befriended artists such as Markus Oehlen, Georg Herold, Tobias Rehberger, Franz West, Dora Garcia, Pierre Bismuth, Heimo Zobernig, and many others.

In 1997 he showed the « Verkaufswerke » (1992-2003) in the show « Sculpture. Projects Münster 97 ». The biggest « Verkaufswerk » in public space, on the marketplace of Münster, is a contemporary Mercedes van. Inside is a stone-sculpture by Georg Herold « for sale ». Through the front-window you can see a certificate of authenticy. Other « Verkaufswerke » exposed at the Westfälisches Landesmuseum contain original works by Martin Kippenberger, Franz West, Dieter Roth, Hans Richter, Cora Pongracz, Hermann Nitsch, Al Hansen, etc.

The Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels shows an installation, that is explicitly opened to different publics, professionals from the wine world, gastronomy etc. and the conventional art-public, at different times of the day.

In 2000, a show in Ghent is dedicated – in cooperation with famous art-collectors – to the phenomena of « artists working for a living in Belgium » in a slightly provocative and humiliating manner. A show in the Landesmuseum in Graz calls for « Ungehorsam gegen Kuratoren/ Désobéissance au Curateurs » in 2001.

Kurt Ryslavy's work refers to movements like Dada, Fluxus and Wiener Aktionismus. He continuously fights traditional ways of interpretating art and questions established concepts of art and art history.

He found a genuine artistic expression in his specific way of messing with social classes. His means are provokation and sarcasm in combination with intriguing sensuality. His prefered themes are social values in relation to conditions of free artistic expression. Ryslavy works in sculpture, painting, performance, installation, photography, video, artists' books, posters, catalogues, invitation cards - all often represent a subjective activism.

ESSAYS BY HANS THEYS

Les craquelures de notre regard, 2004

Onzichtbare naden, 2004. Gepubliceerd in 'Flower Power. Kunst in België na 2015', Tornado Editions, 2008.

OTHER ESSAYS

Het verhaal van de wijn, 2007

L'histoire du vin, 2007

The Story With the Wine, 2007

(This esay is part of the exhibition project "the inner-directed artist". The launching of the object/book 'EUROPÄER' will take place on 21 April 2007 in Kurt Ryslavy’s residence (Van Hoegaerdeplein 22, Place Van Hoegaerde, 1081 Brussel/ Bruxelles)