Domi Gratz
Domi Gratz is a Viennese artist capturing expressive impressions of daily life through paintings and drawings. Read on to learn what inspires her humorous, colorful imagery.
To see more of the Dominique Gratz’s work, please visit her Instagram.
About:
Growing up with a passion for drawing and painting, Domi knew from an early point in her life that she wanted to dedicate her life to art and make it her career. The ability to express herself in ways other than writing or talking encouraged her to apply to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where she studied Fine Arts and recently graduated in June 2021.
Domi explores various materials within her works including acrylic, gouache, oil on canvas as well pencil on paper. Additionally, the use of oil pastels gives her the opportunity of having a spontaneous workflow.
Bus, 2021.
Her work can be described as a reflection of impressions and encounters of everyday life; the themes she explores emerge directly from these experiences and are captured on canvas and paper in an abstracted form. The scenes depicted therefore often seem to be on the verge between reality and dream but always remain figurative. Domi describes her process as intuitive as she does not overthink the life experiences she portrays while working. This sense of spontaneity also becomes evident through her naïve style of painting that is inspired by childhood drawings.
Seeing the environment in the unfiltered and pure manner of a child is her greatest motivation to create art. The lack of perspective, the use of flamboyant colors as well as reduction of lines gives her images dramatic expressiveness which is heightened by the crowdedness of some of the compositions. Recurring motifs within her work include close friends and family members as well as her cat, mixed with some self-deprecating self-portraits. Images are often juxtaposed with a text that functions as a commentary on the scene or as an alternative title. At the moment, Domi is working on a series of small works on paper and is keen to see where they take her.
Selected exhibitions:
2021 Diploma Exhibition, Mehrzwecksaal/Semperdepot (Austria)
2019 ALL PAPER SHOW, Mehrzwecksaal/Semperdepot (Austria)
2019 Exhibit.on.resources, Althanstrasse 12 (Austria)
2019 STOFF, Haidgasse 7A (Austria)
2018 Old Painters are trying to kill me, Spektakel (Austria)
2016 Manfred (Austria)
2014 Art-Hotel Vienna (Austria)
All images provided courtesy of the artist.