Untitled 2011

Heimo Zobernig created this untitled painting using acrylic on canvas. The work presents a world of primary and secondary colours, with different geometric shapes creating letters that spell out 'Reade'. Zobernig is an Austrian artist whose work is usually categorised as conceptual or abstract. He has explored the way that media such as painting, sculpture, video and performance can create meaning. You might consider how the flat surface of the painting interacts with the clean lines of the shapes on the canvas. It's a piece which self-consciously engages with the history of art. Zobernig began his studies in the mid-1970s. He then became a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in 1999. What we see here could be a knowing critique of art institutions and their cultural authority. We can research the social conditions that shape artistic production by looking into Austrian art schools of the late 20th century. That can help us to better understand the context in which this piece was made.