Emil Toman – Eine Zeitreise
exhibition: 10.6.2011 – 12.8.2011
Curated by Walter Angerer-Niketa, Guido Zehetbauer-Salzer
A catalogue on the exhibition is available.
What made the person, painter and teacher Emil Toman stand out is an uncompromising love of freedom. It took the fearless young Master of Arts to Cairo, to the desert, where the vibrant abundance of the unknown and the endless emptiness of the sea of sand inspired him and shaped his character too. He also found his home as a painter in Art Informel, absolute abstraction, which enabled the free spirit to break loose from all artistic shackles, to be at one with the universe.
The abstract painting of Art Informel does not indicate a standardised style, and is also no longer based on shapes such as circle, square, rectangle, instead it rather represents an artistic attitude. Unlike geometric abstraction Art Informel is not based on an excessive theoretical superstructure. This openness inspires new possibilities. Art Informel works are hard to subject to art criticism because the pictures do not reveal any describable elements. The picture area becomes a field of action, spon-taneity is more important than the composition of the picture.
Emil Toman’s works have been presented and honoured in many exhibitions. These include in the Modern Art Museum in Chile, in Cairo, Zagreb, the Vienna Secession and Salzburg. The latest major exhibition was dedicated to his 75th birthday in St. Pölten. For the first time since 1998 zs art presents selected works at the Art Austria 2011 and is thanking the tirelessly broad-minded promoter of every artistic development and an always open-minded, youngatheart optimist with an exhibition of his works he left behind to his wife Eva. It is a journey through time to the post-modern period and shows works created between 1978 and 1988 in particular.
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