Karl Vejnik
——Austrian Painter——

– Arts and culture cannot be hampered –

Karl Vejnik was born in 1961 in Carinthia, Austria. Currently, he lives with his family in Ebriach where he works in his studio “Im Werk”.

He studied art in Vienna in 1993 and 1994. Shortly afterwards, he began organising creative seminars and international school projects. He has presented his works of independent thinking at numerous exhibitions in Austria and abroad as well.

Karl Vejnik considers art to be a valve and a cure for obsession; he perceives it as everything but a thoughtless path. His unconditional attitude toward the historically-conditioned and accused self – raping in the swamp of political and religious liars can be characterised by the following motto: “I do not believe in what has been placed in my cradle.” He tries to question reality whether someone likes it or not.

According to the artist, art and culture know no boundaries, they cannot be subject to central space. Quite contrary, they are like segments connecting people and triggering everything – from entertainment to consideration.

Art shall be prepared to look into the deepest abysses, as it represents many voluntarily blind people inhabiting a constructed world of illusions.

Karl Vejnik has received several awards and recognitions for his artistic work. He arranges his works in individual cycles, tweaked with sculptures and installations made of various materials.

His pieces of art included in the cycle “Ante – Pante” rely on his interpretation of the centuries-old custom of “transferring a small church” in the Austrian village of Bad Eisenkappel. The tradition emerged as a result of a natural disaster in the Vellachtal valley. In his structured works, he expresses his fascination with the mood of the situation by using various contrasts, reflections and colour nuances. He calls this style of painting “ante-pantism”.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

• 2013 – International exhibition Ex Tempore, Preddvor (SLO),
• 2014 – International exhibition Ex Tempore, Šenčur (SLO),
• 2014 – International exhibition Ex Tempore, Krainburg (SLO),
• 2016 – Nomination for the “Artig” Art Prize, Allgäu, Bavaria (DE),
• 2016 – International Bienniale, Hamburg (DE),
• 2016 – PalmArt Award “Recognition Prize”, Leipzig (DE),
• 2017 – Nomination for the art “KITZ-Award”, Tirol (AUT),
• 2017 – Nomination for the art “PalmArt Award”, Leipzig (DE).

On the other hand, he presented his compositional insights into the depths of the human soul and the artist’s difficult interpretative path in the cycle “Latency”. Often a paradoxical game of opposites reflects complex and often hidden meanings, spiritual backgrounds and reality. He confronts the viewer with exasperation and betrayal and makes visible specific structures resembling idioms through his brush. The process, systematic design, and brief definition of particular areas have revealed the distinctive and unmistakable signature of the artist. The artist’s motto is to “stimulate the viewer to let his fantasy and imagination play.”

In the painting cycle “Um-uns und in-uns,” Karl Vejnik refers primarily to Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical work “Morgenröte”. Thoughts on moral prejudices focused on the topic of morality, origins, and claims to the truth of moral and religious teachings. In his paintings, Karl Vejnik questions moral concepts and, in contrast, the human abyss representing destruction and violence. He has chosen the means of collage, and for the first time, adds letters and various objects to the embossed, almost monochrome light background. The rich colour palettes applied in the middle of paintings are rather striking but seemed to be randomly selected and used, and the artist employed them as a kind of camouflage faces. Dark colours mixed with the light allow you to feel positive and negative qualities. Dispersed, splashed colours spread all over the surface, the barbed wire symbolises captivity, and the rusty, partially bent nails embody religion and projectiles, and the keys spread among them represent knowledge, hope and faith.

Currently, Karl Vejnik’s art is represented in public and private collections in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Switzerland, Italy, Russia and England.