"Avove and Below"

Egg Tempera on Woodpanel, 11x21 in, 2010

"Decorations with Birds"

Egg Tempera on Panel, 10x10 in, 2009

"Flowerbird I"

Egg Tempera on Panel, 10x10 in, 2010

 Artist Statement

The themes of my paintings come out of my experience as a psychoanalytically trained psychiatrist and from my social and political worldviews. They also come from my baroque Catholic childhood in Austria with its mystery and fairytales, and the cultural experience of being a European in America.

I like to tell stories with my paintings which are whimsical, tragicomical, grotesque, and about abnormal, surrealist mental conditions. They celebrate metamorphoses and transcendence both in figurative and abstract form.

I use various media, such as acrylics, oils, egg tempera, pastels, ink, encaustic, and printing techniques.

The strongest influence on my art comes from the Viennese School of  Fantastic Realism, such as Ernst Fuchs, Friedrich Hundertwasser, and from the early 20th century artists Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Paul Klee, and German expressionists. I am constantly learning from contemporary American artists.