Arnulf Rainer

Arnulf Rainer is an Austrian painter, printmaker and photographer. From 1948 to 1951 he produced Surrealisticdrawings representing underwater scenes and mystical forms, rendering these fantastic images in pencil as a densely worked surface. Deeply suspicious of rationality, he investigated the potential of dreams, madness and the subconscious; to these ends he co-founded the Hundsgruppe under the influence of French Surrealism in 1950.

From the mid 1970s Rainer reworked photographs on a variety of subjects. Constantly adding to his repertory of images Rainer continued to exploit the interaction of intellectual meditation and bodily expression.

I really like this particular series of Rainer's work due to the mix of media. I really like the contrast of the bright paint and the stark black and white photography. The juxtaposition works really well for me. I am a big portrait fan anyway and a love the sneaky addition of paint.