29 August 2021

Vienna Insight: Lukas Soldo, a new talent who was recently accepted for the study at the Academy of Fine Arts, about his approach to abstract painting

Fashion.at followed an invitation to the finissage of Lukas Soldo's first gallery exhibition which wasn't only a debut for the young talent who was recently accepted for the 'Abstract Painting' class headed by German artist Michaela Eichwald at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna where Soldo will start his studies in October this year. It was also the premiere for the 'Galerie Soldo' which was founded by his uncle Mario Soldo who is known for organising fashion events and shows such as the legendary closing shows of Vienna Fashion Week, an own model agency or for his socio-political activities, especially for being one of the initiators of the country's most important LGBTQ parade 'Regenbogenparade'. In summer this year, Mario Soldo extended his activities to the art business and opened the Galerie Soldo at Mittersteig 1 in the 4th district of Vienna. At around the same time period, his nephew Lukas Soldo got positive feedback from the Academy of Fine Arts for being accepted as a student. The best reason for Mario Soldo to start into the new role of a galerist with an emerging talent who has convinced professionals from one of the most important art universities of Austria.

Fashion.at spoke with Lukas Soldo about his work such as the painting on view right at the image on this page. It shows the abstraction of a human body depicted like seen through a sort of X-ray or more precisely tomography vision showing the bones with the inner organs heart and stomach. Heart and stomach are standing for the artist for emotions, for something Saint-Exupéry-like "the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen", for the ability to sympathize with somebody, for empathy, for experiencing life literally (stomach) through and through. The first lines with the pencil were drawn by the artist with closed eyes from the memory of the impression he had of a person. Then, he started to fill the sketched lines with vividly bright, sunny colors. The painted figure with one hand waving looks like saying 'Hello Life'.

The next Galerie Soldo exhibition 'Las Vegas, Japan' with the photographic work by Barbara Filips will open on 1 September; details at facebook.com/Galerie.Soldo.