KARL KÄFER
b. 1947 Salzburg, Austria
d. 2025 Innsbruck, Austria
WORKS | BIOGRAPHY | EXHIBITIONS | PUBLICTIONS
WORKS
BIOGRAPHY
Karl Käfer is not a mediumistic artist in the strict sense. He is a visionary artist who draws inspiration for his symbol-laden works from meditative contemplation and inspiration from spiritual beings, as he once told me. His work reflects his deep engagement with the myths of great cultures and Western and Eastern esoteric traditions, especially alchemy, Kabbalah, tarot, and astrology. Käfer creates precisely crafted paintings with iridescent colors that testify to his virtuoso mastery of Old Master painting techniques. These images are the result of a symbolic visual translation of his lifelong preoccupation with the numinous—the mysterious presence of a formless divine.
In the early 2000s, the mysterious, gigantic geoglyphs of Nazca became an important topic for him. He regarded them as maps of inner landscapes carved directly into the skin of Mother Earth, pointing to the true, transformed landscape hidden beneath the surface. They are gigantic tattoos on the living organism of the Earth, simultaneously revealing and concealing.
SELECTED EXHBITIONS
2011 Kristallwelten in Wattens, Austria
2004 Hofburg, Innsbruck, Austria
2001 Art Gallery Zürich, Switzerland
Villa Schindler, Telfs, Austria
1997 Sommerpalais Harrach, Vienna, Austria
Kristallwelten in Wattens, Austria
1996 Marquis Gallery, National Arts Club, New York
1996 Museo Universitario, Puebla, Mexico
Casa Lamm Cultural Center, Mexico City, Mexico
1992 Galerie Metropol, Monte Carlo
1987 Palais Palffy, Vienna, Austria
1984 Galerie Unterberger, Innsbruck, Austria
1981 Galerie im Alten Dampfbad, Baden-Baden, Germany
1979 Stadtturmgalerie, Innsbruck, Austria
1978 Galerie Tantra, Interlaken, Switzerland
1975 Galerie Tangente, Munich, Germany
1974 Tiroler Kunstpavillon, Innsbruck, Austria
1971 Romanischer Keller, Salzburg, Austria
PUBLICATIONS
