Zens Herwig – Self-portrait 1

He was born in 1943 in Himburg near Vienna. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in the class of Prof. Elsner. During his studies, he also attended O. Kokoschka’s school. He acquired further education in graphic techniques. His exhibition activities began in 1966. Since then and to this day, he is the author of exhibitions that present his distinctive work worldwide (Los Angeles, New York, London, Tokyo, Madrid, Berlin, Paris). He is the creator of the major “Goya Project” at the Museum of Modern Art in Bilbao. He has received numerous awards from Vienna and Austria for his contribution to culture. The author has created thousands of graphics, drawings, oil paintings, interpretations of the lives of F. Schubert and F. de Goya. He is a professor emeritus at the Vienna Academy. His work is marked by two obsessions – death and Goya, whom he also interprets through a dissertation on his work. In 1977, he began recording events of his life on copper plates. This “Graphic Diary” is now over 55 meters long and deals with banal themes in a humorous and expressive way. The diary is a kind of attempt to conquer death, and Zens continued to work on it until his death. For Zens, painting is the meaning of existence; he paints to live.