Daniel Ferstl’s works defy categorization
on various levels: painting meets sculpture, high meets low brow, classic composition meets kitschy extravaganza in the choice
of motifs and materials. Pop cultural references range from 70s and 80s cult movies to contemporary gamer and meme culture.
In his recent works, colorful fabrics are stretched onto frames with stuffed textile elements
sewn onto them, giving the works a three dimensional quality. The painterly gesture is only present as a mediated remainder
in the printed patterns of the fabrics Ferstl chooses for his backgrounds. On an immediate affective level, the silky, shiny,
fluffy works are imbued with the kind of “cruel optimism” that keeps us attached to the dreams that deep inside we know might
crush us in the end.
Daniel Ferstl, Austrian, born 1982, lives and works in Vienna, studied painting at the University
of Applied Arts Vienna with Christian Ludwig Attersee. Exhibitions including at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2015), New Jörg,
Vienna (2015), Ve.Sch, Vienna (2015), Belvedere, Vienna (2016), Belmacz Gallery, London (2017 and 2019), Foundation, Vienna
(2018), Zeller van Almsick, Vienna (2020), Austrian Cultural Forum, London (2020), Wonnerth-Dejaco, Vienna (2022), Belvedere
21 (2023), Albert Contemporary, Odense (2023), L21, Palma de Mallorca (2023).
www.instagram.com/daniel_ferstlwww.danielferstl.comArtist Lecture Series Vienna
is artist run since 2010.
www.artistlectureseriesvienna.comInstagram,
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