About the Artist
A graduate of the University of Graz and the Università degli Studi di Firenze (art history and media studies) who also holds a degree in painting and printmaking, Carinthia-based artist Sissi Brunner-Schützelhofer creates an oeuvre comprising acrylic paintings on canvas, fine art prints, and ceramics.
Formally, Brunner-Schützelhofer’s style navigates the space between figuration and abstraction. Her paintings explore the many facets of our humanity—hope and joy, frustration and self-confidence, naivety, detours, and the courage to continually rediscover ourselves. Amid vibrant colors and subtle fractures, a visual language emerges that brings emotions to life while leaving room for personal reflection.
With a touch of irony and anthropomorphic expression, Brunner-Schützelhofer’s works reflect our society in a poetic way—sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, often playful, and yet profound. Each painting invites the viewer to look beyond the surface and discover beauty in imperfection.
Her anthropomorphic animal figures burst with vitality and never fail to bring a smile to the viewer’s face. Behind these colorful, energetic compositions lies far more than technical finesse and humor: A razor-sharp eye for observation and a keen sense of nuance allow us to glimpse the depths of human nature behind the bold and whimsical situational comedy. Despite the lightheartedness of her works, the artist is, above all, concerned with honesty.
Artistic Style and Statement
Her visual language is deliberately raw and vibrant. Lines remain visible, colors are allowed to flow, and thoughts overlap.
The artist’s technical and stylistic approach is driven by an intricate exploration of the delicate balance between control and trust, openness and precision: The tensions arising between control and letting go, security and risk, and external expectations and the inner voice are reflected at the level of motifs (sparked by ideas, observations, or thoughts that cross the artist’s mind). Crucially, they equally shape the “how” of her painterly execution—the manner in which the fundamental elements of painting (line, color, form, and surface) are handled.
“My paintings show the path I have taken while painting. […] For me, a painting is finished when I feel that nothing more needs to be explained.”
Brunner-Schützelhofer’s distinctive way of combining the familiar with the unexpected leads to subtle shifts in boundaries and systems of order, opens up spaces for fresh thoughts and emotions, and makes what has hitherto remained unnamed consciously perceptible and tangible. Her art emerges from intuition, observation, and a love of color, form, and emotion—vibrant, free, and always surprising.
“Life isn’t always a game. But maybe we should never stop playing it.”
