Anouk Lamm Anouk (b. in Vienna, Austria) lives and works in Vienna, Austria. Anouk Lamm Anouk studied at UdK, Universität der Künste, Berlin, Germany, and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria. Their artistic practice spans painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, and writing. Their manifesto claims: “No Age, No Gender, No Origin”, or as they say: “I am no one I am nothing” which could be a reference to their embedment in Zen Buddhism. Anouk identifies as trans-non-binary and by virtue of this and living as a Person with autism, it is crucial to them to rid themselves of the external attributions and labels that come from normative society in order both to see and encounter others without the violence of classification and anticipation, to be truly open.

The starting point of their paintings is the raw linen, the canvases itself is crucial. The unprimed frontside of the linen is a living part of their works and becomes a connecting visual element across several series. Their colour palette is strictly limited, most often to earthy colours, hues of black and off-white are also present; reduction is key. Anouk works both in series and independently of series – some paintings are solely abstract, while others are predominantly figurative – all of which is connected by unique handwriting and gestural strokes. Text or text fragments are also part of their practices. The texts are intentionally unobtrusive, sometimes they require viewers to look for them. These give a hint or raise questions.

In their abstract series “post/pre” circular forms abound through the use of a makeshift compass that soaks attention toward the centre of most of the paintings, which operate according to the assumption that emptiness is the foundation of fullness, that nothing is everything; emptiness as the basis of the fullness/richness of being, the void as the ultimate non-space. These “non-spaces” are portals into something else and should ground and help viewers dwell in the moment, anchored to the here and now, leaving behind the digital and its distractions to create worlds of images that invite viewers to linger.

In their work, Anouk returns to certain motifs, beings, and rhythms, which they unite together into a singular, holistic cosmos, with the aim of conjuring peaceful spaces for contemplation with a strong undercurrent of desire. This can be seen in their mostly figurative representations in the “Lesbian Jazz” series, which features abstract symbols and motifs embedded next to naked bodies. The bodies on the canvas are often female or non-binary, sometimes sexless, and always anonymous. Faces or facial expressions are rare and usually left out, because “Lesbian Jazz” portrays above all identity, a lifestyle, a community, and not individualized portraits. Their artistic practice emerges from the urgent need for queer visibility in a world rife with discrimination, and their paintings explore the visual languages of fluid identity and body as they are coded and re-coded within society.

Anouk’s other bodies of works – “The Void is My Temple” and “Mädchen kümmert sich/girl cares” – as well as much of their earliest works, frequently included animals or animal-like hybrids that imagined a world absent of humans and their anthropocentric systems.

In 2021, Anouk was awarded with the Main Prize of the Strabag Art Award International. They are listed as one of the 3 most influential young artists in Austria. Anouk Lamm Anouk has shown their work in solo and group exhibitions, including at Frauenmuseum, Wiesbaden, Germany (2023); Fundacja Stefana Gierowskiego, Warsaw, Poland (2022); Patricia Low Contemporary, Gstaad, Switzerland (2022); Hotel Sacher, Vienna, Austria (2021); Austrian Cultural Forum, London, UK (2020); and Belvedere21 Museum, Vienna, Austria (2014).

ANOUK LAMM ANOUK

26.10.2023

17.09.2023

09.09.2023