Dr. Nikolaus Schaffer

Preface from the 2019 catalog by Dr.Nikolaus Schaffer

Dr. Schaffer, born in 1951, is an art historian,
1983 – 2016 Head of Collections at the Salzburg Museum
Main focus is on 19 th and 20 th century paintings

Can the images of Brigitte Bixner, which are mainly composed of angles and straight lines, be described as vivacious? The question is justified because from the exactness of the painting method, they are not. But is a lively brush, dancing spots of color, and rapid swings necessary to evoke an impression of liveliness and movement? That would be too simplistic, for fresh vitality and strict formal discipline do not have to be irreconcilable opposites.

Brigitte Bixner, just eight or nine years ago, indulged in entirely unsystematic colors until she was infected by the geometric virus and has since remained consistent and ever more so. It is not strict geometry, but rather a rhythmic fanning of the picture plane, mainly resulting from the tension of the counteracting line positions. The zigzag, the ups and downs, thus the multiple changes in direction and thereby the spatial forward and backward jumping of the patterned compartments, create movement – up to a vivacious dynamic. Bixner knows how to position her oblique "angles" and employ humor, something classical geometry is hardly capable of.

The dissection of the picture plane replaces modeling, perspective, and spatial disposition. Round forms are the exception. Faces and figures, singly or together, in facial or bodily action are her theme; for example, dance couples, musicians, or acrobats, whose expansive movement she translates into staccato-like directional impulses. The comical, clownish, and parodic subtext is not neglected, especially in the character heads.

Over the years, not only the formats have grown but also the demand for content programming. Bixner now paints narrative tableaus, which are divided multiple times but still stand under one theme. It often has to do with the cycle of life. For this, she finds configurations and symbols that, in their formulaic memorability, remind one of old, popular sequences of images, for which she has found a new idiom. Hand in hand with this, her palette has also become more selected and exquisite.

These, in a sense, epic display boards that bring out the seriousness of life now stand in her work as significant anchor points to the more entertaining and amusing small cabinet pieces.

 

Manuela Klerkx

Art writer and curator 
Article for the exhibtion (re)discoveries in Amsterdam, March 8-10, 2024

Lifelines

The art, especially painting, fascinated Brigitte Bixner (Austria) from a young age, but during the war and post-war years, there were few or no opportunities to pursue this passion, especially not for a woman. When Brigitte's husband died at a young age, and her daughter gifted her first a box of paints and then an easel, she decided to take up the brush. This required courage. No one around her was making art, especially not in the modern way she dealt with the realistic landscapes and still lifes of the pre-modern era. But her children were grown, she was alone, and so she decided to follow her passion through various courses and art trips to master the art of painting.

She soon discovered her own stylized and colorful visual language and the need to express people - with their behaviors and feelings - on canvas. People – isolated from their environment – expressing feelings of loneliness and togetherness through their clothing, an accessory, an averted gaze, or leaning against each other. The situations she paints often seem temporary, as if someone is asking a question or waiting for an answer; with a look, approaching or distancing. These are paintings of fleeting moments and encounters in which everyone can recognize themselves. It's clear that she is not focused on the individual, but on humanity as a whole, which communicates mainly through body language (crouching, surprised, questioning, flirtatious) seeking contact or distance.

The publication "Lifelines," which appeared in 2019 could not have a better title. Lifelines create an image of yourself and the world around you, giving your life meaning and substance. This is exactly how Brigitte uses lines in her paintings. They connect and separate, they are straight or crooked, but always functional in their ability to shape a situation or a person/object.

In the nearly 30 years that Brigitte painted, we see how her visual language became ever more unique and powerful. Line and color dominate her abstracted portraits, which increasingly do without eyes, nose, and mouth. As mentioned, Brigitte was not focused on the individual, but on the line as a symbol of connection. People, gazes, postures, accessories, clothing, body parts, musical instruments, everything is connected or separated by lines, anonymizing faces and people.

Like artists such as Sonia Delaunay, Paul Klee, and Wassily Kandinsky, whose work she undoubtedly knew, Brigitte combined abstract (cubist) and figurative elements with a balanced color technique. By experimenting with color and shape – with bold and sometimes rough color tones and simplified shapes – she achieved great expressive effects. Alongside geometric shapes, we also see body parts and frivolous objects like a hat or a fan, but always abstracted into a play of lines. There are a series of small paintings that show a portrait followed by the same miniature portrait. Is this a lifeline between parent and child? Between the adult and the child within? And then the relationships between lovers, the relationship between man and music, human and clothing.

Nowhere else in the painting of her time do we see the same combination of clothing, portrait, accessories, expression, abstraction, and color. Where the lines of artists like Mondrian relate to art, in Brigitte's paintings, they refer to life itself. And thus, her lines never lose their vitality.

Ina Rena Rosenthal

Artist, born in 1966. Studied art education and psychology, free painting, communication design.

Active as an artist and designer.

Brigitte Bixner paints the faces of life in a multifaceted and profound way that is only fitting for someone with over 80 years of life experience. Yet, Bixner remains wonderfully fresh and modern, witty and humorous. Stepping outside of artistic clichés, she presents herself as independent, unconventional, and almost cheeky with her heads and worldviews, all of which originate in her Salzburg apartment.

Bixner is a true war child, shaped by the challenges of her time, including deprivation, loss, and injustice, as much as by interpersonal connection, modesty, and consistency. As an autodidact, she came to painting in mid-life. The artist has always placed her personal needs and feelings below everything else, being naturally a great giver. To understand her work, one must know this, for Bixner's creative urge is fueled by a deep desire to contribute to the good in the world. Like every serious artist, Brigitte Bixner is not spared from looking in the mirror, and with it comes the necessity to engage with the world in a real and unfiltered way.

Bixner takes on this task with an almost stubborn willingness to fully commit and unconditionally accept what appears to her. She does not judge; that is her great gift. Instead, she observes and gives space and breadth to what she finds. Her paintings are a loving invitation to freedom and inner peace. Therefore, interpreting the strict geometry of Bixner's clear forms as rigid construction would be a great misunderstanding. It is rather an offer of a higher, universal order, a structure floating above things, connecting everything.

Bixner counters their subtle strictness with finely tuned color melodies, creating what might be called harmonic tension. Over the years, Brigitte Bixner's development has shown logical consistency. Her oeuvre is an organically grown continuum, where nothing seems forced, but phases and experiments appear comprehensible and lived through in retrospect. One can feel that Bixner engages with her subjects until it feels "right" for her, completely avoiding pressure. Far from the art scene and largely unnoticed, Brigitte Bixner has created an oeuvre comprising approximately 400 panel paintings over nearly 30 years.