The self-portrait and the artist's homage are central motifs in European art history and have been an integral part of painting since what is believed to be the first self-portrait by Jan van Eyck in 1433. Nowadays, the self-portrait has taken on a drastic new value with the advent of the selfie. The view of one's own image also pervades Adolf Frohner's entire oeuvre. The exhibition Ich und Ichich deals with Frohner's self-reflection in his artistic and personal positioning.

In his paintings, Adolf Frohner presents himself in a wide variety of roles. A recurring theme is the relationship between the sexes, such as in Gib mir den Schuh Eva (1970), in which Frohner as Adam with high heels in his hand tries to seduce Eve, or in the poster design entitled Selbstbildnis (1975), in which Frohner presents himself as a voyeur. In addition to these works created using the collage technique, the exhibition shows key works from Frohner's painterly oeuvre such as the eponymous painting Ich und Ichich (1986) or Salome und Tut-ench Amun (1983), in which Frohner depicts himself in relation to traditional myths from Europe's cultural history.

At the same time, he created numerous portraits of Adolf Frohner, in which he shows himself with many faces and posing playfully. These depict the artist through the filter of an unfamiliar gaze, for example in photographs by Peter Baum and Didi Sattmann or in drawings by Karl Anton Fleck.

Photomontages from the archive of the Adolf Frohner charitable private foundation are also being shown for the first time. In the field of tension between self-perception, self-construction and perception by the other, the dialog between painterly self-portraits and documentary and artistic portraits forms an approach to the multi-layered personality of Adolf Frohner. The exhibition also raises the question of how the artistic self is staged today.

Curator: Elisabeth Voggeneder

Artists: Peter Baum (*1939 in Vienna, Austria), Karl Anton Fleck (*1928 in Vienna, Austria, † 1983 in Vienna, Austria), Adolf Frohner(*1934 in Großinzersdorf, Austria, † 2007 in Vienna, Austria), Didi Sattmann (*1951 in Styria, Austria).