WORK REQUIRES THE MYSTICAL, THE INEXPLICABLE AND THE SECRET
Michael Ornauer, born in Vienna in 1979 and now based in Neulengbach, Lower Austria, originally came from a background in figurative painting. Until 2008, he studied in the masterclasses of Hubert Schmalix and Amelie von Wulffen at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. His career includes numerous solo and group exhibitions, as well as a position as a freelance lecturer at the renowned Städelschule in Frankfurt.
In 2017, however, Ornauer broke away from figuration. He began rediscovering the spaces and surfaces behind his figures, fully embracing abstraction. What had always been present in his work—a deep engagement with haptics, color, and material—now took center stage. Conceptually, he is drawn to the interplay of harmony and disharmony, as well as to nature as an unalterable model.
Ornauer works in series. One body of work consists of geometric stripe paintings, which not only explore the interaction of colors but also test the limits of the medium itself. In these pieces, he applies thick layers of paint—up to five kilograms of oil paint in a 100 × 80 cm format.
Another series comprises his organic works, which evolve through an intuitive process. “I accompany the painting as it is created,” Ornauer explains. Particularly striking are his spontaneous, organic “color cakes”—small wooden panels layered with thick accumulations of paint. These pieces emerge alongside his paintings, capturing excess material that would otherwise be discarded, yet transforming it into art in its own right. “The challenge lies in throwing the paint unintentionally,” he notes.
The third series, his monochrome works, serves as a constant and essential component of his artistic practice. Ornauer views them as a necessary counterpart to his other works. Here, a biographical element becomes evident—his commitment to Zen. Beyond daily meditation and mindfulness, this practice has led him to embrace the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi. The term wabi conveys simplicity, solitude, and imperfection, while sabi refers to the beauty found in aging, experience, and patina. “Together, these words create something greater than their sum. This kind of beauty speaks to me both philosophically and personally,” he explains.
Once familiar with Ornauer’s work, one can recognize the wabi-sabi sensibility in each piece, not just in the monochromes. It is evident in the way he cuts, scratches, and grinds the oil paint on the canvas, embedding imperfections within harmony. In this, he brings to life a quote by the great singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, one that deeply resonates with him: “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”