Hans Kupelwieser
Hans Kupelwieser is an internationally renowned Austrian sculptor. Born in 1948 in Lunz am See, he lives and works in Vienna and Graz. From 1970 to 1973, he attended the Graphische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt in Vienna. He then studied at the University of Applied Arts under Bazon Brock and Peter Weibel. From 1995 to 2014, Kupelwieser held a professorship at the TU Graz, Institute for Contemporary Art. Since the 1980s, Kupelwieser has shown his works internationally in solo and group exhibitions, including at the MAK, Vienna; the Museum of Fine Arts, Osijek; the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Technology, Karlsruhe; or the Engelhorn Stiftung in Munich (with Franz West); as well as at the Lentos, Linz; the Museum of Modern Art, Salzburg; the Atlas Gallery, London; the Belvedere, Vienna; or the Ludwig Museum, Budapest. The artist also has produced numerous outdoor sculptures, including the Hohlkopfwand in the government district of St. Pölten in 1996, a monument at the Jewish cemetery in Krems, and the Seebühne in Lunz am See.
Hans Kupelwieser creates his impressive sculptures and reliefs from materials such as paper, plastic, ceramic, or aluminum. Their colors and unusual surfaces—bright, highly polished, matt, sharp-edged, or reflective—captivate the eye as much as the rhythmic configuration of individual elements and their large-scale dimensions. The presence of Kupelwieser’s works disrupts viewers from familiar or everyday experience. Kupelwieser creates his works with one or two materials and colors. His reduced formal language makes use of similar repeating designs and patterns. While formally rigorous, these abstract works also appear playful and poetic. The artist speaks of “controlled ‘random processes’.” (1) His reliefs of extruded plastic make clear just how important the material is to the artist, but even more so his ways of working artistically with various raw materials, industrial semi-finished products, or found objects.
His work Ohne Titel (2012) is on view in the exhibition Paper, Rock, Scissors - Materials and Tools of Art (2025).
(1) Hans Kupelwieser, cited in: “Reflections. Hans Kupelwieser im Gespräch mit Alexandra Schantl, Mai 2012,” www.kupelwieser.at/de/profil/texte/reflections (last accessed on January 27, 2025).