Sali Ölhafen

Sali Ölhafen
(born 1959 in Innsbruck, Tyrol)

Shimmer, 2020, for the art in print series Small is Beautiful

Etching in three colours, printed on Zerkall Butten Intaglio White Rough paper, 350 g
Printed by Tom Phelan, Blackspot Press, Vienna

Edition of 33 + 5 AP + 2 EP + 1 PP

Signed, dated, titled and numbered by the artist

21 x 21 cm

Sali Ölhafen

1959 // born in Innsbruck, lives and works in Vienna and Switzerland
1975–1979 // HTL Malerei & Grafik, Innsbruck
1979–1981 // HGBLVA-die Graphische, Vienna
1998 // Bauholding Sponsorship Prize for Fine Art
Also active as a curator since 2011

Solo and group exhibitions (selection from recent years)
2020 // PARALLEL VIENNA, Project Statement with Arrival First, Vienna (Austria)
2019 // with Zea Fio, Tina Lechner, Sali Ölhafen, Eduard Tauss, foryouandyourcustomers Vienna (Austria)
2019 // FORUM Museum Eva Wipf, Pfäffikon, Zurich (Switzerland)
2019 // PARALLEL VIENNA, Project Statement with Arrival First, Vienna (Austria)

“With flowing ink, the ‘shape’ emerges from the paper. An attempt to show synthesis between chaos and order with this code, an expression of emergence and what has already emerged.

It is a painting and an object, the viewer can sense the three-dimensionality, the volumes, and whatever lies in the in-between, this emptiness, is an important part of artistic work.”

Sali Ölhafen, December 2020

About the artist

“Structures, shapes, colour spaces emerge momentarily during a painting process that allows for an element of chance, factors that can challenge the ongoing work to the same extent as finalising the image. The momentary state of the image is always teetering between volatility and stability…

During the painting process, Sali Ölhafen develops an abstract motif, a “shape” as she calls it, that she applies in variations to the image or also releases as a floating element into space. In the context of the image, she gives meanings to this motif that’s designated as a symbol, meanings that allow for an element of chance in design leeway – be it “informally” accentuated and painted over, be it applied to an image carrier whose grid-shaped relief structure only takes the colour on the surface.

The artistic decision of when or where “momentary” becomes definitive also highlights the conditions of the – again momentary – viewing of the image.

Lucas Gehrmann, curator at the Kunsthalle Wien
press text 2014, Vienna (extract)