Korec, Johann

Background: spent his childhood in institutions.

Education: none.

Profession/occupation: farm hand and shepherd.

Art form/medium: drawing, painting.

Start artwork: from 1981 in Haus der Künstler, Gugging.

Relevant info: narrative as part of the artwork; main theme: eroticism.

Outsider Art Sourcebook, (Raw Vision) 2016, p.134 / 2009, p. 100.

Johann Korec worked on a farm and as a shepherd, though he always dreamed of taking care of animals in a circus. Aged 21, he came to Gugging hospital where he stayed for the remainder of his life. In the Haus der Künstler, he began drawing and developed his personal technique that involved cutting illustrations out of newspapers and tracing them, before adding sexual attributes to the traced figures. Often centring on a couple as his main theme, Korec’s erotic pieces are supplemented with text, describing the scene depicted above; the text blending with the drawing to form an undividable whole.

Johann Korec
1937 Vienna, Austria - 2008 Gugging, Oostenrijk / Austria