My apologies for this post, since this art was not really public. The exhibition was available in exchange for a small fee, and it was not visible from the street. Still, the vibrancy hopefully makes up for it.
Here, let me show you. This is a card that I bought at this exhibition. I took these photos two days ago in our yard especially for this post.
Only now I turned it around and read the title: “Irinaland over the Balkans”, 1969. I wasn’t even born yet.
When my friend – our host during this 2019 day trip to the Pannonian, flat, NE part of Slovenia – had asked me what I’d like to see, my first wish was: Hundertwasser.
I suppose the late Austrian visual artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser is a divider of public opinion. Some love him, others hate him, and for me he is everything that is good in art. He’s got colours, shapes, message, vision, dreamlike quirkiness, and he officially changed his name from Stowasser upon learning that “sto” in several Slavic languages, including Slovenian, means “hundred”. So he became “one hundred waters”. How cool is that?
I learned of him during a particular period in the life of my family when father was away on business, that is during the six years or so when he was living in Vienna as the national TV correspondent. I visited him often and we always had much fun. The Hundertwasserhaus was a beloved spot, and the artist’s manifest on the uneven floor about how flat floor fits engines, not human beings, was easily recognisable as truth.
So when I learned that the Lendava Castle hosted a temporary exhibition of his and Shoichi Hasegawa’s works entitled “East and West”, I knew I wished to see it. And so I did, immediately after the welder artist Robert Jurak’s lean cows and awesome fish in front of the castle from my last week’s post.
Let’s enter the castle and have a look. Next week we will remain inside for the permanent collection of historic artefacts. I didn’t wish to cram it all in one post. Or Sandy would never finish it. Ha.
The path to the castle was not steep but see the featured photo in my yesterday’s post. I wore the same shoes. “Orient & Okzident”. This kind of houses Hundertwasser built. The quote will be translated soon. These greens fulfil my inner need. Here you go: “The spiral is a symbol of life and death. The spiral lies at that very point where inanimate matter is transformed into life.” I like the one below. The set-up was quite conservative but stylish. Shoichi Hasegawa is a contemporary artist from Japan. The importance of glossy floor. The exhibition was not particularly vast. Uneven floor of a bowl.
For Photographing Public Art Challenge (PPAC) hosted by Marsha at Always Write

This day in my blogging history
2016: Don’t use the phone. People are never ready to answer it. Use poetry. ~Jack Kerouac
2017: The garden that I know the longest with two tree quotes.
A drawing of a tree shows, not a tree, but a tree-being-looked-at.
~John Berger
An interesting exhibition
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Thank you, Sue. I’m glad you agree.
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Would have been good to see
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Manja. what a lovely show. The vase or bowl is particularly lovely and I love how the floor reflects the artwork. I had to laugh at your 1969 comment. I graduated from high school (very young, LOL) in 1969, so that is a special year for me. Vince’s son celebrates his 52nd BD in a few days. In those days Mom would have had a fit if he had been mine! LOL
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Thank you, Marsha! Happy 52 to him! 1970 was an awesome year. 😉 Isn’t that bowl something? I’d own it most gladly.
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Come to speak of it, I’d be a happy owner of that bowl. Now who is going to give it to us? LOL You own a picture of it. That’s pretty cool.
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I have him in my apartment as well.
He’s really sth. I remember how surprised I was when I learned about the whole ‘sto’ story. Yeah, how cool.
How can you not love him?
Btw, a big chunk of Vienna bears his signature. Have you seen it?
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Yesss, I’m glad and not surprised at all that you love him too, Bojana. What exactly do you mean if I have seen? Something special? I’ve seen his house, but only from the outside, and his museum, and one factory from the outside, and one highway rest stop. Did you see above in my post that father worked in Vienna for six years? We visited him often. Those were the days. Thank you!
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In that case, we must be talking about the same house – colorful and quirky. I wasn’t sure if you were referring to it or I missed sth while there.
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The Hundertwasserhaus is inhabited and you cannot enter (unless you know someone living there). But opposite (or somewhere really near) are his museum and gift shop that are also built in this style.
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Yes, we were talking about the same thing.
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Thanks for introducing me to this artist. Did he have Slovenian roots, given his last name was Stowasser? Just wondering…
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Well, I’m not sure if he did but I think not. I think he simply liked the idea that a part of his surname meant 100 in many languages. 🙂 And he made it happen… Thank you, Sunny!
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Touché! and just to show that how I write doesn’t necessarily dictate how I read … I scrolled all the way down to the end 🙂
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Brava! Thanks, Sandy. I know, a struggle… 😉 Seriously though, I WOULD narrow down my photo count gladly but I simply can’t. It’s like my arms are being cut off.
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😂
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This artist is after my own heart. I knew the name but not much about him. Now I do! And thankful for it! Thanks for the post.
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Oh, Claudia, he is fascinating. He drew designs for new Australian and New Zealand flags too. I remember liking them. No surprise that he appeals to you. Thank you!
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Interesting art, I’m not much into contemporary but it was very well laid out 🙂
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Thank you, Not Pam. I’m quite selective but he awes me.
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I’m on his love side as well. What a treat! Just the colors alone…(k)
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Thank you, K, so glad to hear this. And it’s not a surprise.
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Looks like my sort of exhibition – I’m glad you broke the PPAC rules to share it 😆 And I was interested to learn how Hundertwasser came by that name!
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Great to hear this, Sarah, thank you. I also thought he was worth breaking the rules. 🙂
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I love this post. I also love Hundertwasser and have seen some of his gems up close in Vienna, but I can’t for the life of me, remember which museum it was. It was an emormous grand one and I wish I could remember the name. It had snowed right up to my knees so I was more concerned with trying not to be cold and trying to find an easy walk there and back! I love the greens too. Now you make me want to read about him. I daresay you know much more about him than I do and would be happy to see more posts like this ❤
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Thank you, Sunra Nina. Ah, I don’t know that much about him at all, but this bit about his name stuck. Oh yes, Vienna can be sooo cold in the winter. I haven’t done many of its museums, I’m afraid. Nor now in Rome…
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Thank you for the discovery of Hundertwasser. His artwork looks vaguely familiar;, I probably saw a reproduction or two in poster shops but never knew the name of the artist. His playful architecture is truly wonderful – I now have a reason to go to Austria!
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I’m truly happy to help you learn of his name. I hope you go one day and maybe hop to its neighbour Slovenia too. And Italy. 🙂
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