Zeller van Almsick

Michael Fanta’s work intertwines a crossover between the cinematic and the oneiric. His paintings capture snapshots of intriguing settings onto small formats, which restage the viewer’s position from the voyeur to an active participant. These scenes unfold through abstract characters, random situations, and caption cues. The resulting narratives thus question whether it is only the artist’s fantasy or the viewer’s projection.  Fanta’s paintings reflect this enfant terrible who likes to dig into the absurdity of everyday life with a witty twist. In Climax, 2020, No Sleep, 2019-2020, and Eye Contact, 2020-2022 he shows multiple outlooks of different sexual encounters: from a comic-like Italian shout of pleasure floating across the room to two rather amusing viewpoints from each sexual partner’s perspective—one of them blurred either by sweat or movement. Likewise, Balloon, 2021 depicts the absurd struggle between a girl and a balloon trying to have sex in vain. Both express their frustration at the impossibility and clumsiness of the act as they carry on.  Fanta’s pieces appear like fragments of stories in the middle of the action, creating anticipation for the next moment and intrigue about the unsaid beginning. Like every good story, it demands many try-outs and re-writings, a time to settle, which is why his pictures inform of the twists and turns of constant overwork after the starting notes. Each painting is thus the sum of several narrative layers poured by the artist.

Michael Fanta was born in 1989 in Graz, and now lives and works in Vienna. He has studied at the Academy of fine Arts, Vienna, with Daniel Richter, and at the Academy of the Arts Iceland, Reykjavík. Fanta has been included in numerous exhibitions in Austria and across Europe. Recent group shows include Berlin > Graz (via Stockholm) in Kunsthalle Graz and Dangerous Stuff, Julius Getty Gallery, London. Solo exhibitions include Michael Fanta: Chewing Gum in Class, Rhizom, Graz, Babyface, Zeller van Almsick Projekte at Konzulát Studios, Berlin and Neue Bilder, Wien Museum MUSA.

Zeller van Almsick is a gallery based in Vienna committed to an upcoming generation of Austria-based artists, aiming to introduce younger positions to the cultural sector and the art market. Through the initially nomadic projects in various cities and venues, and since 2017 in our own gallery space, Zeller van Almsick has had the chance to work and intensify the collaborations with artists, curators, and collectors, expanding our network to an international art circuit. The gallery supports spatial explorations as a central feature in their projects, focusing on painting and its expanded qualities.