Felix Malnig

In Fringe Area, his second solo show with the gallery, Felix Malnig reveals how architecture and planned urban and suburban landscapes become representative of current economic, social and political conditions. The paintings reflect the fragility of the built and unbuilt structures that define our cultural systems. The subjects range from bare architectural structures to derelict checkpoints and flooded farm buildings. For years Felix Malnig has photographed derelict checkpoints along the former iron curtain, which have become obsolete after the collapse of the USSR and after the establishment of the EU. He paints them with acrylic and spray paint on canvas. Using spray paint and other assertively material-based processes and techniques, Malnig creates scenes that are both subtle and evocative while retaining a raw edge directly linked to his subjects. The renderings are reduced and almost monochromatic. The intensity of their unnatural colors contrast the small, intimate formats. Works painted with metallic paint, acrylic and spray paint on canvas depicting bare modernist structures accompany them alongside with framed collages on wooden boards depicting flooded farm buildings.

Felix Malnig lives in Vienna and was raised in Germany and Canada. He studied fine arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Some recent exhibitions include In Between, Austria Contemporary and the National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Fragile Structures at Habres + Partner Gallery, Vienna; On Paper at the Gahlberg Gallery, Chicago; Destination Chicago, IG Bildende Kunst, Vienna; Ghost Town at the Strabag Kunstforum, Vienna; Delusion at Habres + Partner Gallery, Vienna; Visual Drugs, Zurich; First View at Hilger Contemporary, Vienna; artlab, Vienna; and many others. He has received numerous awards including the Strabag Recognition Award, the Art Award of the City of Vienna and the Erwin Ringel Art Award.
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