The Avant-garde of Consciousness

Elisabeth Sula finds inspiration for her contemplative art in the study of philosophy. She creates a series of works that in a sense call into question the way of looking at the world and understanding the connection between individuality and society. Her paintings combine elements of metaphysical research with spiritual examination, which partly comes from the years spent in India. Where older works overlap with
ornamental motifs inspired by Eastern culture, graphic elements are replaced by individual messages in the Avant-garde of Consciousness. Together, these works form a chorus of vibrant colours and declarative sovereignty, the promise of a transcendent boom that goes hand in hand with the pursuit of self-knowledge.

The artist’s latest collection of works is a response to what she perceives as onedimensional: fear-raising reports of the coronavirus pandemic supported by a number of influential sources of information.

This work could not have come about at a more opportune moment marked by the fragmenting political actions of governments, which ignore the long-standing massive imbalance in nature and now see in the virus only a threat to unbridled individualism and public health. All this is happening against the background of the global refugee
crisis, famine and the destruction of the environment on an unprecedented scale.
Elisabeth Sula’s work offers a visual vision of the future that highlights the individual, but prioritises a collective approach to self-questioning and the resulting action. If fear manifests itself as a kind of unconsciousness, her work presents a challenge to consciousness that favours conscientiousness and is also an open appeal that begins in written cycles with a written text to immediately merge with streams of abstract, interpretive colours.

Elizabeth Breiner

art critic, London, February 2021

About author

Elisabeth Sula studied painting and graphic art at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna with Oswald Oberhuber and philosophy at the University of Vienna.
Philosophical questions usually form the starting point of her work. Her vision of a post-patriarchal feminist future broadens the view of the future of humanity, mutual equality and the development of consciousness.
More on www.sula.at

Mag. art Elisabeth Sula
www.sula.at

1962 born in Vienna
1980 – 1986 Philosophy and Art History, University of Vienna
1981 – 1986 Painting and Printmaking, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Oswald Oberhuber
1986 – Diploma, Master of Arts, internship in Asia
1987 – Internship in Italy
1992 – Paris, grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1993 – Cologne, Germany, stipend
1994 – Theodor Körner Prize, stipend by the City of Vienna
1996 – Stipend by the Federal Ministry in Austria
1995 – 2002, 2006, 2014-2015 and 2018 one-year study in India
2001 – 2006 Teaching at the Summer Academy on the island of Zakynthos, Greece
2000 – Project Kunst im Bau: interior design of the VA TECH entrance hall, Vienna
2004 – Project Kunst im Bau, Education Centre Traiskirchen, Lower Austria
2008 – 2009 Study in Costa Rica
2010 – 2011 Study in Thailand and India
2011 – present – Teaching at the Arts Academy of Styria
2012 – 2013 Study in Indonesia
2014 – 2016 Teaching at the Arts Academy La Cuna del Arte, Germany
2014 – Art calendar Böhler Edelstahl for the year 2015
2015, 2016, 2018 Study in India
2019 – 2020 Study in Thailand and India
Solo exhibitions and participation in joint exhibitions in Austria and abroad
since 1983:
Feminale, University of Applied Arts, Vienna / Portfolio of Prints Tosa Washi, Museum of the 20th Century, Vienna / Von Hochdruck zu Hochdruck, BAWAGFoundation, Vienna (catalogue) / 1st Kochi International Triennial Exhibition of Prints, Japan / Premio Internazionale Biella per l’Incisione, Centro Incontri, Genoa, Italy / Accrochage, Carinthia Gallery, Vienna / Cybele Gallery, Paris (catalogue) / Bank Austria, Paris / Anne-Marie Galland Gallery, Paris / XIII Concorso Internazionale di Pittura, Palazzo di San Michele, Rome / Manresa, Intaktloft / Insam Gallery, Vienna (catalogue) / Omnitel co., Austrian Postal Savings Bank, Vienna / Vom Innen und Außen, Schillerplatz Gallery, Vienna/ Galerie im Belgischen Viertel, Cologne / Letters from Vienna, Symphony Hills Gallery, Katsushika, Tokyo (catalogue) / Het Zwanepand Gallery, Antwerp / MAS Gallery, Hamburg / Gerulata Gallery, Bratislava / RZB, Vienna (catalogue) / Interkulturelle Begegnung, Kunstforum Schloss Wolkersdorf, Lower Austria/ Tobacco Museum, Vienna / St. Peter an der Sperr, Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria (video) / KUZ-Gallery, Kapfenberg, Styria / Galerie im Andechshof, Innsbruck, Tirol (catalogue) / Van Gogh Studio Gallery, Pune, India / Zürich Kosmos Gallery, Vienna / White, American Studio & Gallery, Regensburg / Tempel, Picture Gallery, Izmir, Turkey / Sabanci Cultural Centre, Istanbul / Austrian Cultural Institute, Istanbul / Kocaeli University, Izmit, Turkey / Schloss Primmersdorf, Lower Austria / Dr. Langenmayr Gallery, Munich / G Gallery, Olomouc, Czech Republic / Dedicated to the Source, BAWAG, Vienna / Living Energy, Elin VA Tech, Vienna / Kommunikation, IBM Calendar 2001 / ÖBV-Atrium, Vienna (catalogue) / SIAK, Educational Centre Traiskirchen, Lower Austria / Selini Gallery, Zakynthos, Greece / Wiener Privatklinik, Vienna / Symposium (Heil-)Kunst, University of
Medicine Vienna / SVA-Galerie, Vienna / Arts Academy of Styria, Allerheiligen, Styria / Novomatic Forum, Vienna / Wir sind Wien, Festival der Bezirke, Vienna / Kunstverein Steyr Schloss Lamberg, Styria, Upper Austria / Böhlerstern, Kapfenberg, Austria / Lützelsflüh, Switzerland / deVere, Vienna, Austria / Privatklinik Vienna, Austria

Collections:
Artothek Lower Austria / Artothek Vienna / ATP, Vienna / Bank Austria, Paris / Elin VA Tech, Vienna / Kapfenberg Cultural Centre, Styria / Department of Culture of the Federal State of Tirol, Innsbruck / Austrian Postal Savings Bank, Vienna / Austrian Tobacco Museum, Vienna / ÖBV, Vienna / SIAK, Ministry of Interior, Vienna / Unilog Integrata Vienna / Wiener Städtische Versicherungsanstalt / Zürich Kosmos
Versicherungs AG, Vienna / Böhler Edelstahl GmbH & CoKG and many other private collections in Austria and abroad.