Josef Hofer in
“Art is a seismograph of society”
The gallery has loaned four artworks by Josef Hofer - selected by Arnulf Rainer - for the group exhibition art is a seimograph of society, from January 14 to February 13, 2022 at the Center for Contemporary Art in the Glass Palace (Augsburg, Germany).
In the 20 years of its existence, the Zeitsicht Art Award has proven to be a career booster for young artists. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of this art prize, the Augsburg Glass Palace is showing works by the prizewinners. The anniversary show “Seismograph of our time. 20 Years Zeitsicht Art Award” is both a retrospect and an inventory.
The laureates are selected by internationally recognized artists : Marina Abramovic, Neo Rauch, Katharina Sieverding, Daniel Richter, Arnulf Rainer and Markus Lüpertz.
A resident of an Austrian institution, Josef Hofer did not speak; he drew. Tirelessly. In the mirror he held up to himself and to us, his figures strive to take flight within the confines of the frame, with an eroticized, untamed grace. His drawings give visual form to a foundational duality between body and psyche.
Held by numerous museums, his work features in major private collections such as those of Antoine de Galbert (FR) and Arnulf Rainer (AT), who regarded him as “one of the greatest contemporary art brut artists.” A significant group of his works entered the collections of the Centre Pompidou in 2021.
In 2026, the gallery published a 270-page monograph and launched an online catalogue raisonné of nearly 3,000 works.