Zens Herwig – Stormy Sea

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 the school of O. Kokoschke. He gained education in graphic techniques as well. His exhibition activity began in 1966. Since then, the author has held exhibitions presenting his distinctive work worldwide (Los Angeles, New York, London, Tokyo, Madrid, Berlin, Paris). He is the author of the large “Goya Project” at the Museum of Modern Art in Bilbao. He has received numerous awards granted by Vienna and Austria for his contribution to culture. The artist created thousands of graphics, drawings, oil paintings, interpretations of the lives of F. Schubert and F. de Goya. He is an emeritus professor 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,” now over 55 meters long, deals with banal themes in a humorous and expressive manner. The diary is a kind of attempt to conquer death, and Zens worked on it until his death. For Zens, painting is the meaning of existence; he paints to live.