Champs d'Energie, 1963

Painting with putty and emulsion paint on hardboard.

Dimensions: 41 x 64 x 3 cm

Born in Carinthia, Hans Bischoffshausen chose Paris as his most important place of life. He had a lifelong friendship with the Italian painter Lucio Fontana. He joined the group of important Austrian artists, such as Wolfgang Hollegha, Oswald Oberhuber, Markus Prachensky, Max Weiler and Arnulf Rainer, who, like him, sought to engage with abstract expressive and informal French art.

The properties and structures of materials are the focus of Bischoffshausen's interest. With a minimalist choice of materials and with mostly monochrome, often white surfaces, he pushed "the asceticism of white to the end" - until the separation of image and space dissolved.

For Hans Bischoffshausen, life and work formed an indispensable unity. He lived his artistic programme with all its consequences and was one of the most uncomfortable and fascinating artistic personalities in Austria.