Maria Bussmann

Maria Bussmann is a Postwar & Contemporary artist, who originates from Germany, like other famous artists such as Manfred Pernice, Hermann Hesse, Marion Strunk, Frauke Dannert, and Johannes Schwart. Maria Bussmann was born in 1966. Having studied at the Academies of Fine Art in Nuremberg and Vienna, she graduated in philosophy and cultural studies from Vienna University. The artist lives and works in Vienna and New York.

Maria Bussmann’s works represent an insistent attempt to fathom the epistemological quality of her medium, drawing. For the artist, drawing is the most direct form of artistic expression, both as a medium of analysis and of communication. Her work traditionally grows out of her relationship to reading and the generative force of philosophy and literature, as well as personal references such as temporary sites of residence. Authors that have inspired her work include philosophers Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Wittgenstein and Apuleius. Her drawings, at times exhibited as scrolls, exist as open-ended commentaries and annotations to philosophical thinking rather than illustrations of readings or experiences. While reading and thinking, the artist transfers visual ideas that develop in her mind into a two-dimensional space making the drawing expansive. In a transformational process, individual pictorial elements appear like encoded emblems, resulting in a rich textual interwoven fabric. The result is a bulk of sketches made into series around her interpretations of philosophical strands or subjects of reference.

Maria Bussmann's creative work was largely inspired by the 1980s. The 1980s were a tumultuous time culturally, and were marked by growing global capitalism, widespread mass media, significant discrepancies in wealth, alongside a distinctive sense of music and fashion, epitomised by electronic pop music and hip hop. Artists growing up during this time were heavily influenced by this cultural atmosphere. The 1980s were a key decade in terms of politics, marked by the African Famine and the end of the Cold War, which was signified by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Neo Geo and The Pictures Generation became leading art movements during the decade, alongside Neo-Expressionism which became well-known in Germany, France and Italy (where it was known as Transavanguardia). Artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Jörg Immendorf, Enzo Cucchi, Francesco Clemente and Julian Schnabel were primary artists of the era, alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf, who established the street art and graffiti movements.

Maria Bussmann's work is on display at Galerie Ernst Hilger in Vienna, Austria.

EXHIBITIONS (selection):

2014 "The Intuitionists", The Drawing Center, New York

          "Zufall der Natur", Galerie Ernst Hilger (gem mit Nikolaus Moser), Wien

2013 "HeimspielII", Kunstwerkstatt Lebenshilfe, Lienz, Osttirol

          'Nebelland hab ich gesehen", Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten, Klagenfurt, Austria

          "Bussmann, Kandl, Strobl", Galerie Altnöder, Salzburg

          Vienna Artfair, Bussmann, Kandl, Stand B21, Galerie Altnöder, Vienna

          "Achtung Idylle amp Subjektive Idylle", Schloss Orth a d Donau

          "Ask for Haydn", Landesgalerie Burgenland, Eisenstadt

          Die nächste Generation "Drawing the world VI", Trakelhaus, Salzburg

          "Vom Luftholen u Untertauchen", Gaisbühel, Vorarlberg

          "Aufbruch/departure",Motorenhalle, Kultur-Forum, Dresden

2012 "zeit,zart,zeichnung", Gasometer Kunstverein, Triessen, Lichtenstein

          summerstage, Skulpturengarten, Wien

          S/W, keine Grauwerte!, Kunstraumarcade, Beethovenhaus Mödling

          Siga, siga, Athen

          350-Jahre Nürnberger Kunstakademie, Nürnberg

2011 "Family-Inheritance", Kunstraum-Engländerbau, Vaduz, Lichtenstein

          "The world - as it is", Hilger Contemporary, Gallery Hilger, Wien

          Zacherlfabrik- Kunst, (together with Franz Josef Alternburg, Werner Feiersinger, Maria Hahnenkamp), Zacherlfabrik, Wien

          Querbeet, Galerie Altnöder, Salzburg, Österreich

Solo

2016 Planet Neun, Galerie Eboran, Wien

          either way, Frosch and Portmann, New York

2015 Wittgensteinnbspand Wittgenstein, Judith Ortner, Wien

          Wanderlust, Parallel Kunstmesse, Wien

          Vergnügungen/ Pleasures, Galerie Chobot Wien

2014 Zufall der Natur, gemeinsam mit Nikolaus Moser, Galerie Ernst Hilger, Wien

          Über allen Wipfeln, Galerie Bernsteinzimmer, Nürnberg

2013 Skulpturen, ORF Radiokulturhaus, Wien

          "Vögel und Ratten", Künstler mischen auf, 10 Jahre Lentos-Museum- Ausstellung, Linz

2012 Drawings about Hannah Arendt, Deutsches Haus, NYU, NY

          Suvat amp Bussmann, Galerie Altnöder, Salzburg,

          Im Vorübergehen, KTF, Linz

2011 / 2012  "Vogelhochzeit", Ortart, Nürnberg

2010 Long beach, NY, Graphisches Kabinett, Secession, Wien,

          Himmelfahrt, ascension Galerie Ernst Hilger, Wien | Vienna

          Ich war nie in Japan, Jesuiten Foyer, Wien | Vienna