Lorenz Hinterleitner

Born in Graz in 1994, he initially graduated from the HTBLVA Ortwein (branch of graphic and communication design) and began studying human medicine at the Medical University of Vienna in 2015. Since his successful graduation in 2021, Hinterleitner has been working in cancer research at the Vienna General Hospital as a PhD student.

His exceptional artistic talent was evident from an early age, and Hinterleitner remained loyal to art even during his medical studies. He initially made drawings and graphics before finally renting his first studio in Vienna Floridsdorf at the age of 23 in order to take up oil painting. He soon created his first paintings in his typical wrinkled style. The origin of these wrinkled images is the superficiality of modern civilization and the illusory worlds that glossy magazines and social media channels suggest to us every day and which Hinterleitner consciously wants to penetrate.

The destruction of the images initially refers to our world, which is currently presented to us mainly in two-dimensional form. These flat impressions, as we know them from modern media, are smoothed out by additional filters and effects to give us the perfect illusion of a world without edges. Since modern media is largely concerned with self-portrayal, this process loses most of the personality of the person these images are actually intended to depict. It obscures who this person actually is, what interests and preferences they have, what talents and also what fears they have. For fear of revealing too much of ourselves and thereby making ourselves vulnerable, we surrender to this illusory world and accept it as a kind of new reality. By destroying this two-dimensionality, the person behind the facade should be freed. The subsequent new arrangement of the various fragments is intended to reflect the person in their true, versatile personality. With all its corners, edges, cracks, folds and reflections. A character can cast dark shadows as well as shine brightly in the sun. The aspect of chance and apparent arbitrariness makes each picture unique, just as we are all unique personalities.