WONNERTH DEJACO

Thea Moeller creates works from prefabricated metal components, such as strip iron, profile pipes, and L-sections that are readily available on the market and are used in a variety of contexts in industry and construction. Moreover, these components are relatively easy to manipulate into the desired form, which is equally important for both their conventional applications and their artistic use. […] Thea Moeller’s artistic process gives rise to seemingly paradoxical effects. At first glance, sliced open, buckled L-sections and overly elongated loops of strip iron resemble stiff rubber bands stretched between the wall and the floor or hanging limply from the ceiling. Painted-on color reinforces this impression. And yet, what at first appears to be an illusionistic transformation of the material expresses precisely its specific qualities upon closer inspection—namely, that steel is not simply hard and rigid, but on the contrary can be pliable and flexible, without losing a certain solidity and weight. (Excerpt from a text by Christian Berger, 2021)

Thea Moeller, born 1985 in Hannover, DE, works in Vienna. She attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg (2008-2010) and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (2010-2014). In 2014/15 she participated in the Lenikus Artists in Residence Program in Vienna, and in 2015/16 at the MAK Schindler Artists and Architects-in-Residence Program in Los Angeles. She also curated exhibitions at Kunstverein Ve.Sch, which she has been co-running since 2013. Since 2017 she teaches at the Art University Linz. Single and two-person exhibitions were most recently at Wonnerth Dejaco, Vienna (2021), Galerie Kunstbuero in Vienna (2018), Venice 6114 in Los Angeles (2016), Deborah Schamoni in Munich (2015) and Bianca D’Alessandro in Copenhagen (2015). Most recent group exhibitions include those at Belvedere 21 and Loggia (2020) and Gabriele Senn Gallery (2018) in Vienna, BALTSprojects in Zurich (2018), Westwerk, Hamburg (2018), SCAG Vienna (2017) and Baba Vasa’s Cellar in Shabla, Bulgaria (2015).

Established in 2020 by the curators and art historians Victoria Dejaco and Michael Wonnerth-Magnusson, WONNERTH DEJACO exhibits and represents local and international artists. Strongly connected with Austria’s contemporary art scene, we present and promote artists through our cross-disciplinary exhibition program as well as participation in art fairs. With a focus on emerging artists, we envision the gallery as a site of personal encounter and intellectual exchange where lively discourse is actively created and nurtured. Therefore, we encourage the artists who work with us to produce exhibitions that are challenging, innovative, and conceptually rigorous.