Walla, August

Walla grew up in Klosterneuburg as an only child with his mother and grandmother. His mother dressed and educated him as a girl, to prevent him from becoming a soldier. Walla later declared that he had been a “Nazi girl” who had been re-operated during the Soviet occupation into a “communist twin”. At age 16, he first entered in-patient psychiatric treatment, until the age of 20. He returned to psychiatry at age 36 when his mother fell ill.

Walla worked very artistically as a draftsman, painter and photographer. In his art, he captured his surroundings by painting invented and existing symbols as well as godlike creatures on objects (even on houses or trees). Figures and symbols can be found in all his works. He created a complete artistic cosmos. August Walla lived in the House of Artists in Maria Gugging since 1983 and was one of the most versatile artists of the so-called “Art Brut”. Walla painted and wrote on objects, trees, roads, he took photographs and made installations. He developed a personal catalogue of gods and symbols, implanted well-known images such as the swastika and the hammer and sickle, using their drastic effect for his own means. In Gugging he seamlessly decorated the walls and ceiling of his room as well as large parts of the house.

(Solo-) exhibitions: ‘Weltenwandler – World Transformers. The Art of the Outsiders’, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, 2010-2011.

Info: Outsider Art Source Book, (Raw Vision) 2016, p.215 / 2009, p.156.

info: www.gugging.org;

August Walla
1936 Klosterneuburg, Oostenrijk / Austria - 2001 Gugging, Oostenrijk / Austria