Finder of Miraculous

After the exhibition "Not a dream, just an experience" with Art Brut works from the Infeld Collection in summer 2022 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MSU) in Zagreb, this year exceptional Croatian artists will be presented at the Infeld Haus der Kultur in Halbturn.

For the first time in Austria, the exhibition "Finder of miraculous” (“Wunderfinder") provides a representative insight into the impressive diversity of the outstanding Art Brut and Outsider Art collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. Approximately 50 works on canvas, paper and wood by 17 artists invite discussion of social conditions and art historical concepts. The works were created in the last 40 years.

Influenced by their own life experiences, the authors deal with the existential questions of human existence: fate and suffering, delusion and inspiration, love and creative power. One of them is the self-taught Melita Kraus. She graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb, paints and writes since the 1990s. Her work is like an open book that tells, reveals or partially hides her dreamed life in order to offer free space for the viewer's imagination. The artist reveals about herself: "I live in a fairy tale."

Vivid colors and refined drawing set apart the works of Kresimir Hlup. Created as a document for his mental states, his work reveals impressions of the outside world, emotions and dreams, tells of the threat to man in a modern world inexorably afflicted by disease, wars, violence, and the loneliness and alienation of the individual.

Another self-taught artist, chemical engineer Petar Brajkovic creates instinctively, quickly, without sketching first. Initially inspired by cubism, he soon developed his own distinctive signature. "For me, painting is vital," says Brajkovic. The figure of a woman served as inspiration.

Fisherman Bozidar Golub-Stef frames his images in wires, pipes, metal and wood. He deals with the world threatened by war and destruction of all kinds. His works radiate a magical power, an energy that affects the viewer and invites him to ask and answer existential questions.

"The exhibited works are characterized by their instinctive and spontaneous artistic expression. The artists create spontaneously, unencumbered by academic conventions and express their need for personal freedom maximally. They open the door to a new approach and understanding of art," writes Daniela Bilopavlovic Bedenik. She has been responsible for the collection, which today comprises 600 works, since 2016. Art Brut and Outsider Art became visible to the public in Croatia in the 1990s. Nada Vrkljan Krizic (1940-2012), curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, was the first to draw attention to this outstanding non-academic art.

The Infeld Collection

The Viennese string producers Peter Infeld (1942-2009) and his mother Margaretha Infeld (1904-1994) began collecting art in the mid-1960s. Since 2009 Zdenka Infeld continues the family tradition.

The collection focuses on the Viennese School of Fantastic Realism, naive art from Croatia, Pop Art, Buddhist meditation paintings from Tibet (so-called "thangkas"), Art Brut, contemporary art from Austria and Croatia.

In order to make the works accessible to a wider public, the art patron Peter Infeld had representative cultural centers built in Halbturn in Burgenland and in the idyllic town of Dobrinj on the Croatian island of Krk. Works from the Infeld Collection have been exhibited there since 2000. In total, more than 120 exhibitions have been held in both locations with free admission.

Outstanding works from the Infeld Collection are regularly part of exhibitions at home (Albertina, Belvedere, Leopold Museum in Vienna) and abroad (Museum of the Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris; Museum Würth in Künzelsau, Germany; Osthaus Museum in Hagen, Germany).

Exhibition dates: 
Duration: The exhibition "Finder of miraculous” (“Wunderfinder”) can be seen from March 11 to December 10, 2023.
Venue: Infeld Haus der Kultur, Parkstraße 13, 7131 Halbturn / Burgenland
Opening hours: Thu-Sun 1 pm to 6 pm, as well as on public holidays
Free admission
Works: 41 works on canvas, paper and wood

Inquiries:
Dr. Yordanka Weiss
Kuratorin der Sammlung Infeld
Mobil: + 43 664 465 66 66
Tel.: + 43 1 545 80 46
Email: [email protected]
www.infeld.net