Arik Brauer war in seinem Leben nie um ein keckes Wort verlegen, wenn es darum ging, anerkannte Wahrheiten zu hinterfragen, kleine menschliche Schwächen zu entlarven oder Missstände in Politik und Gesellschaft beim Namen zu nennen. Und was wäre dazu besser geeignet als der Witz in der Tradition großer jüdischer Humoristen? Am 5.6.2019 hat der Maler und Autor sein Buch in Wien vorgestellt, die Korrespondentin von kunstsammler.at, Helenna Joua, berichtet.

Am 25. Jänner 2021 berichtet der ORF über den Tod des Künstlers

Arik Brauer at Thalia by correspondent of kunstsammler.at, Helenna Jouja   Thalia’s area for the book presentation was full of Arik Brauer fans, mostly pensionists with salt and pepper hair. Approximately 200 fans fillled the area and were patiently waiting for their star. Surely one must not underestimate the number of followers and admirers he has.   At 19:00 pm sharp, Arik Brauer appeared like a thief in the night, in his black hat and a sportive dark coat, without wearing a tie, and quickly proceeded to the chair allotted to him in the stage. One who doesn’t know him will just think he is just any other old Jews, who survived the Second World War, and probably already suffering from dimentia, for a man born in 1929, hmmm. But no, he is no ordinary old guy, as expected, and he right away proved it once again that he is not only a talented artist, professor and founder of his own art. As he read part of his new released book, he was showing that he too could be a poet with mastery of telling humorous stories, making his audience laugh out loud while clapping their hands. He played harmonica in a few seconds, every now and then, to add spice to his book presentation. and like any other Jews, he mentioned a lot about Rabbis. He seemed to have also mastered story telling with emphasis on words like he’s acting in a live theatre to entertain his quite attentive old listeners. A natural comedian indeed and his new book, „A Jud and Keck A No,“ is about to prove it.   After a quick presentation of his book, he left quickly leaving everyone no chance to take a picture with him. Those unsigned books were replaced by pre-signed one at the cashier‘s station. He signed his books with an erasable pencil, and such a mysterious signature, i should say, a gigantic fart filling up the space in one page? Pardon me.You have to see it yourself what i meant. His signature is just like what he had illustrated in one of the hilarious stories of his new book about farting.

(c) Helenna Jouja

Fastastic Realism: Learning about Arik Brauer

You‘ve heard of Fantastic Realism Art maybe from the deceased Ernst Fuchs, who marvelously painted images from his most vivid wild imagination in realistic, clear, detailed presentation, without the absence of aesthetics, but in fact, a lot of it. Just like Gustav Klimt’s „The Kiss,“ the paintings of Fuchs definitely never fail to impress.

You’ve probably mumbled it yourself, in today’s highly competitive art variation, ranging from abstract to whatever is created by a contemporary artist, the struggle of Fantastic Realism Arts (Wiener Schule des phantastischen Realismus) to find its way to global art appreciation and recognition cannot be overlooked.

In the death of Ernst Fuchs, many might have wondered if Fantastic Realism will soon end, as there seem to be millions of contemporary artists around the world, whose art preferences and abilities seem to lack that old masters skills, or the interest to paint their dreamlike visions in a realistic manner. Sure it is quite refreshing to see contemporary arts hung in a wall, that seem to have a touch of classical old masters style, with sense of complexity of creation, completeness, dedication to produce beauty in its highest quality, and balance, rather than art of a minimalistic style, which ease of creation and shortness of duration to complete seems rather overly appreciated, that made some left wondering if the new generation is tasteless in aesthetic appreciation.

We can just jointly conclude that the people nowadays are much more easier to please, rather than those during the time when arts were laboriously and skillfully produced. Because everything is possible now, as everyone can be called an artist for as long as he can produce a thing with a little bit of paint on it, or glue things on it, and sell it for thousands or even millions of dollars. No need to argue with those people raising their brows about its sale, because if an art is sold, it’s sold and collectors can spend their money on anything they want even if for us it’s not worth it. We absolutely have no right to oppose about other's spending reasons or habits but we can raise our objections secretly or be open about it and be seen as someone bitter or jealous about the reality. Is the future of art compromised because of this contemporary reality? Will excellent arts be soon dead because money talks? As the battle of different style of arts continuously exists in the modern world, fantastic realism art is slowly finding its way to exist globally and making a lasting impression to art collectors. The thirst is on for a much complicated Fantastic Realism arts, which also fall in the category of contemporary arts.

Surprisingly, there are still founders of Fantastic Realism Arts, who are alive and kicking, despite their old ages, and even have time to write important books for our art history. One of these founders, is maybe nearly a century old, but is continuously making his way to be one of the most important artists of our time. He is well-known in Austria as Aric Brauer.

Immediately after the Second World War, the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism was founded by Arik Brauer, in serious collaboration with his other artistic colleagues. However, it’s been more than 60 years now since it’s been founded, but still, only a few has probably heard of it in other continents. If so, it’s probably already been integrated into the standard academic curriculum of every nation. Even in the widespread use of social media, fantastic realism arts are not commonly seen or promoted in the same quality and standard of its founders. One reason of its worldwide unpopularity could be because it’s not cheap to study Fantastic Realism Arts in school and time is also an essential necessity.

Aside from limited highly talented artists, who can be as good as Fantastic Realism’s founders, incoming tourists are not enough to see the original arts in Vienna. Although there were some international exhibitions for it, not so many people have seen them for sure. Yes, thousands might be present in an art expo but not millions. Will artistic talent be a requirement too? We can just assume not so many are capable of having vivid imagination of other supernatural creatures associating them with religious aspects or whatever and be able to paint them like they really existed and are, therefore, parts of the normal world.

While it’s true that a great majority can be artistic with abstract art, the reverse is true in fantastic realism. It’s definitely more difficult than having random colors, shapes, and textures, as seen in most ordinary contemporary arts. Is Fantastic Realism Art the high end of arts in our generation then? When will it ever reach the top 100 most expensive paintings in the world? Well, Gustav Klimt was also from Austria, and his painting made it to one of the most expensive paintings. We can only raise our hope and expectations for Fantastic Realism Arts as they deserve to be a part of our future generations. Sadly, most excellent artists died before they could be greater and I am still waiting for Ernst Fuchs to reach his highest peak to be globally recognized to be in level with the old dead masters‘s popularity and value. How long could we expect Brauer to live then, and it’s sad whenever we lose important people.