Alois Riedl

Riedl's artistic development began in the late 1960s as an autodidact with pencil drawings depicting dark, voluminous bodies. Even though painting was at the forefront of Riedl's oeuvre, the pencil drawing retained a special significance in Riedl's works. Fascinated by objects of our daily lives, Riedl was primarily concerned with the decay of upholstered furniture and, in the 1970s, continues to engage with figurative painting against the trend towards abstraction. In rubble pits he finds abandoned furniture, such as old chairs, torn sofas, used mattresses or even removed car seats, which serve as the basis for his painting. While individual details of the furniture reveal the object, the rest is freely interpreted by the painter. Although his paintings have become more abstract over the years, Riedl continued to focus on objects and the constructive and expressive qualities of his objects. Riedl's repertoire of forms expanded over time and his color palette became more colorful. His goal of creating a "good picture" through available inventions of form, however, remained unchanged. Riedl's numerous solo exhibitions include those at the Rupertinum, Salzburg (1983) at the Secession, Vienna (1984) and at the Albertina, Vienna (1992), at Palais Harrach, Vienna (2000) and at Museum Angerlehner (2015). The artist lives and works in Brunnenthal near Schärding.