Gerhard Frömel
Biography
1941
born in Grieskirchen / A
1955–59
Apprenticeship in sign painting
1965–69
Studied graphic design with Prof. Erich Buchegger at the Art School of the City of Linz / A
1975–2003
Teaches at the University of Art and Industrial Design and the University of Art and Design Linz / A
since 1975
Engagement with constructive/conceptual art
Public and private collections (selection)
Collection of the City of Linz / A
Collection of the City of Gmunden / A
Collection Upper Austrian State Gallery, Linz / A
Collection of the Tyrolean Provincial Museum / A
Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck / A
StifterHaus, Zentrum für Literatur und Sprache, Linz / A
Collection Kupferstichkabinett of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna / A
Collection Raiffeisenbank Schwanenstadt / A
Collection Museum LENTOS for contemporary art, Linz / A
Collection Museum LIAUNIG, Neuhaus i.K. / A
Collection Museum OTTEN, Hohenems / A
Collection Museum für Kunst - MUFUKU Weibern, OÖ / A
Collection Dr. Jiri Valoch, Brno / CZ
Collection Stadtmuseum Kunstsammlung JENA, formerly Forum Konkrete Kunst Erfurt, Jena / D
Collection Institute for Constructive Art and Concrete Poetry (IKKP) Gomringer Collection, Rehau / D
Rehau Sculpture Park Collection (IKKP) Rehau / D
Collection Prof. Dr. Bozena Kowalska/Zentrum der Polnischen Skulptur, Oronsko / PL
Collection of the City of Freiburg / D
Peter Staechelin-collection of the City of Freiburg / D
Collection Messmer Foundation, Riegl Breisgau / D
Collection Siegfried Grauwinkel / D
Collection of the Art Museum of the City of Bayreuth / D
Collection Museum Modern Art and Museum Zeichen der Zeit, Hühnfeld / D
Collection Museum Abtei Liesborn, Wadersloh / D
Collection Museum for Concrete Art, Ingolstadt / D
Collection Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg, RUPPERT Collection / D
Collection Museum BIEDERMANN, Donaueschingen / D
Collection Stadtmuseum Ettlingen (Emilia Suciu), Ettlingen / D
Collection Museum RITTER, Waldenbuch/Stuttgart / D
Collection ZKM/Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe / D
Collection eac. Espace de l Àrt Concret, Donation ALBERS-HONEGGER, Mouans-Sartoux / F
Collection Centre d Àrt Contemporain Frank Popper, Marcigny / F
Collection Kunsthalle PAKS, Paks / H
Collection Mondriaanhuis, Amersfoort / NL
Collection Prof. Dr. Bozena Kowalska/Zentrum der Polnischen Skulptur, Oronsko, PL
For Gerhard Frömel, the square is sufficient to formulate it in surprising diversity.
The square had a special significance in modernism, was a caesura in reductive representation, the maximum in the minimum. For Gerhard Frömel, the square is sufficient to formulate it in surprising diversity. Oscillating between surface and space, Frömel's works are clearly ambiguous, depending on the position from which they are viewed. And there is only ever one position that suggests a particular interpretation of space. If you change your point of view, levels and spaces become visible that open up entirely new realities. Views that reveal Gerhard Frömel's purist aesthetic of refined and pointed deception. In this way, Gerhard Frömel playfully scrutinises the serious question of truth in each of his works.„My three-dimensional objects and installations consist of individual parts, always positioned on two and sometimes several levels. You as the viewer can, by changing your position to trigger optical shifts, separations and connections of two-dimensional or linear elements, creating a variety of forms and illusionary spaces, switch between two- and three-dimensional experiences.“ (Quote Gerhard Frömel)