Waltraud Goffitzer Thalhamer
Waltraud Goffitzer-Thalhammer
Layers of Being - A Visual Journey
Austrian artist Waltraud Goffitzer-Thalhammer is widely recognized in the art world for her versatile works, ranging from ceramics and textile art to painting. In her paintings, she masterfully weaves together dream and reality, emotion and symbolism, offering the viewer a profound insight into the emotional and spiritual realms. Her works are characterized by a striking balance of color, form, and deep symbolism, inviting the audience to immerse themselves on both an emotional and intellectual level.
A significant source of inspiration for her art is her journals, which are closely linked to her creative process. In these journals, she documents her thoughts, emotions, and experiences, which often form the starting point for her artistic projects.
Color plays a central role in her works. Colors are essential for expressing moods: muted earth tones evoke calmness, while bold colors convey intense emotions like joy and restlessness. Goffitzer-Thalhammer experiments with various techniques and materials, using acrylic paints to build layers that create depth and atmospheric effects through transparency and texture. This multi-layering adds a dynamic quality to her paintings, as the color layers shine through, creating a vibrant impression.
She carefully balances the elements, ensuring that the details harmonize. Bold color contrasts and effects like the use of gold emphasize symbolic meanings. These accents enhance the emotional impact, setting specific motifs within a metaphorical context.
Waltraud Goffitzer-Thalhammer's mixed-media artworks captivate with their masterful selection of colors and materials, which, combined with surreal compositions and powerful symbolism, create mesmerizing visual worlds. Her works, in which painting, photography, and cut-outs merge, leave a lasting impression and offer the viewer endless possibilities for interpretation.
Through her painting, she remains an important voice in contemporary art, with works that are both aesthetically appealing and deeply thought-provoking. Goffitzer-Thalhammer's paintings speak not only to the eyes but also to the heart and mind—art that invites the viewer to see the world with new eyes.
Waltraud Waltraud Goffitzer-Thalhammer's works revolve around a central theme -
The broken primal ground and the joining together
of the broken parts.
From your old memories emerges the broken circle -
The shattered ball - and the longing
to bring the parts together into a whole - to reconcile.
Attempts at finding images
fed by old pictorial memories.
With the security of a nightwalker
border districts are shown and
at the same time an attempt at reconciliation was made.
This imagery comes in a variety
attempts of means of expression - pottery - tapestry - drawings - etchings.
Always with full commitment
of what is appropriate as given -
This commitment, this permanent search
Forms an essential part of the work.
Fritz Goffitzer
VITA
1959-1963 Linz Art School (free graphics with Prof. Dr. Alfons Ortner)
1963 Participation in the 1st summer seminar for ceramics in Gmunden, under the direction of Prof. Kurt Ohnsorg
1963-1964 Commercial graphics in Vienna
1964-1970 stay in Denmark and marriage to the ceramist Günter Praschak - screen printing designs for ceramic series and independent artistic work
1970 Return to Austria, exhibition in the "Club der Treffen" Linz (graphics)
1971 Intensive study of ceramics, mainly glazing techniques
1972 Draft and design of a ceramic wall at the TBC building of the general hospital in Linz, in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Alfons Ortner and Günter Praschak
1973 Gold Medal for Ceramics at the International Ceramics Exhibition "Concorso Internationale della Ceramika d'Arte" in Faenza
From 1973 he turned to textile wall design
1974 Group exhibition with the ceramist Prof. Günter Praschak in the gallery "Maerz" in Linz (graphics - textile)
1975 Participation in the traveling exhibition "Contemporary Textile Art from Austria" organized and put together by Edda Seidl-Reiter and the Austrian Cultural Center Vienna
1976 CONTRACT WORK for a showroom of the furniture company Wiesner & Hager (textile room divider)
1977 CONTRACT WORK: Design of the entrance hall and the lounge for the home for the disabled in Vöcklabruck (painted wall panels in casein technique)
1978 PARTICIPATION IN THE EXHIBITION “Textile – Art 78” at the Linz, 8 batiks for the common room and dining room of the Lebenshilfe day care center in Linz
1979 NEW GALLERY of the City of Linz. 6 ceramic coverings of planters DESIGN OF A TABERNACLE DOOR for the Old Catholic Church in the Prunnerstift Linz
1979. EXHIBITION PARTICIPATION: "Textile Art Austria" in Halbturn Castle
1980 SINGLE EXHIBITION: "Galerie Riha" in Klosterstrasse Linz
1981 PARTICIPATION IN THE EXHIBITION at the international textile exhibition “Textilkunst 81” in Linz and Vienna, Künstlerhaus
1982 Tempera paintings, each 3 × 3 m for the lounge of the day care center in Altenfelden
From 1983 Further intensive study of old painting techniques (casein and egg tempera)
1985 Design of the hall entrance doors in the cultural and leisure center for the blind in Linz
1986 Artistic wall design (ceramics) in the new entrance area of the BBRZ Linz and SINGLE EXHIBITION at the University for Artistic and Industrial Design in Linz
1987 Purchase of a tapestry "Geteilte Form" from the culture department of the Upper Austrian provincial government
1988 Design of a tabernacle, a Stations of the Cross and a stained glass window in the Capuchin Church, Linz
1988 EXHIBITION: "Architecture - (Cult Rooms)" of the master class for interior design at the Linz University of Design in the CcdB
1989 SINGLE EXHIBITION in the Club der Treffen in Linz (painting – graphics)
1990 SINGLE EXHIBITION in the Maerz Gallery entitled "Nightwalker-Daydreamer"
1991 Artistic design of a fountain for the VKB Linz, Domgasse Design of a marble wall in the customer center of the Chamber of Commerce OO in Linz
1994 Color design of exhibition bodies for the state exhibition in Engelhartszell, Upper Austria.
1994 Commissioned work for the Oberbank in Gmunden: a wall design and a painted panel (acrylic technique) for the waiting area on the ground floor
1996 Illustrations and cover design for the book "Euro Grips" by Elisabeth Vera Rathenböck and Peter Klimitsch, published by Grosser-Verlag
1980-1997 Lecturer at the University of Art and Design Linz, member of the artist association "MAERZ"
2000 Exhibition "Club of Encounters", Linz Exhibition "Art Salon" O.Ö. State Museum
2016 Exhibition "Art Salon" O.Ö. State Museum
2021 Exhibition "Artfor Gallery" Linz
2023 Exhibition "Artfor Gallery" Linz
2024 SINGLE EXHIBITION in the Galerie-Halle Scheutz, Linz
