Franz Graf was born in Tulln in 1954. He studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. During those formative years, Graf developed fruitful human and artistic relationships that still inform his work today. He grew close to Oswald Oberhuber, spent countless hours with Arnulf Rainer and initiated his fruitful artistic collaboration with peer Brigitte Kowanz (also featured in the European Parliament Contemporary Art Collection), which lasted from the late 1970s to around 1984. These three figures are but a few of his numerous collaborators over the years. Fritz Grohs, Svetlana Kopystiansky, Herbert Brandl, Otto Zitko, Elisabeth Plank, Kristján Gudmundsson, Allan Johnston, Ingólfur Arnarsson, Michaela Math, Gilbert Bretterbauer, Elke Krystufek, Eva Wohlgemut and Zenita Komad all deserve mention.
As transmission has always been an important facet of Graf’s understanding of art, it was only natural for him to become a teacher later in his career, teaching in Reykjavik in 1986 before becoming a visiting professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and, from 1997 to 2006, at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.
Artistically, Graf adopts a layered approach, which he applies to materials (graphite, ink, photography or found objects), visuals (texts, ornamentation, patterns, etc.) and meaning. This allows him to create links – or chains of abstractions as they are sometimes referred to – between themes, narratives, past and present. Despite this conceptual methodology, the result is often comparable to traditional portraiture.
A selection of Graf’s solo exhibitions includes: Frankfurter Kunstverein (1979), Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz (1990), at Vienna’s Secession (1995), Bonner Kunstverein (1995), Salzburg’s Rupertinum (2001) and at the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna (2009).
In 2007, he realised a floor design in the entryway to Salzburg’s Mozarteum at Mirabellplatz as part of an ‘art in architecture’ programme. In 2012, he designed a permanent installation entitled ‘SUED’ which consists of four digitally printed glass murals that now adorn the connection between Vienna’s main train station with the S-Bahn and U1 stations.
Franz Graf lives and works in Vienna.
