(*1968 in Bad Ischl, lives and works in Linz and Onishi, Japan)
After completing an apprenticeship as a furrier and photographer, Anita Gratzer studied at the University of Art in Linz under Prof Herbert Lachmayr and Thomas Macho. She received her first scholarships from the Austrian Federal Ministry to travel abroad to Krakow and Paris while still a student. Afterwards, she received numerous grants and prizes such as the Austrian State Scholarship for Photography.
After a two-year residency in New York and an extended period of parental leave, she began to devote herself fully to her artistic production again in 2015. Gratzer has been invited to China, South Korea, Iran, the Baltic States and several times to Italy, Finland and Switzerland. These visits, most of which lasted several months, led to exhibitions and participation in biennials in cities such as New York, Shanghai, Rome, Tokyo, Leipzig and Daegu. She also exhibits mainly in Japan and has had a studio in Gunma Prefecture since 2019.
How Scurrealism Comes into the World
Where the real and the bizarre meet, “scurrealism” enters the world. This neologism comes from the Ebensee writer Walter Pilar, the instigator of the Villa Karbach art project. He and many other artists show works of unconventional power and intensity.
