The conditions and ambivalences of painting lie at the center of Sarah Bechter’s practice. Blurring the lines between the private and the public, as well as surface and line, Bechter’s canvases are more than just surfaces of projection; they take on an independent existence and stimulate a lively debate.

Sarah Bechter interweaves questions about the social role of the individual with her own experiences and views her images as active subjects who encounter us in a peculiar way. She uses painting to explore these questions and to shape the relationship with potential viewers in the context of the prevailing power structures. The artist uses a wide range of techniques and references to question the validity of the images she creates and of painting itself. In addition, Bechter invites you to a game of hide-and-seek by often only hinting at protagonists and objects, giving her works a mysterious, dreamy atmosphere.

Sarah Bechter (* 1989) lives and works in Vienna. She studied painting at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and has exhibited at Belvedere 21 (AT), Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen (CH), Someday Gallery (NYC), Gallery Ann Mazzotti (CH), Künstlerhaus Bregenz (AT), Angelika Kauffmann Museum (AT), Intersticio Madrid (ESP), tart vienna / Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman (AT), Galeria Pelaires (ESP), Dock 20 (AT), Exile Gallery (AT), Galerie Kandlhofer (AT), Kunstverein Schattendorf (AT), Eastcontemporary (IT/FR), Kunstverein Bludenz (AT), among others. Sarah has received numerous awards and grants and her works are represented in several public collections.


CONTACT


︎︎︎ bechter.sarah@gmail.com
︎︎︎ Instagram


CV


* 1989 in Austria
lives and works in Vienna, AT

Education

2010 – 2017 University of Applied Arts Vienna, Painting Department

Awards, Grants & Residencies

2024 Artist in Residency at ISCP New York, US
2023 Anton Faistauer Preis (Recognition Award)
2023 Artist in Residency at CCA Andratx, ESP
2022 Artist in Residency in NYC, US
2019 Kulturpreis Vorarlberg for painting (nominated)
2019 Kunstpreis Hypo Vorarlberg (nominated)
2018 Artist in Residency in Paliano, IT
2017 Recognition award of the State of Vorarlberg
2013 Hubert Berchtold Award

Public Collections

Arthotek des Bundes, Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT
City of Vienna, Wien Museum, AT
State of Vorarlberg, AT
Illwerke AG, AT
Hypo Landesbank Vorarlberg, AT

EXHIBITIONS

Upcoming

No Occasion For Reduction (solo), Kunstverein Jesteburg, GER
Gestalt, Kunsthaus Glarus, CH

2024

︎︎︎ Neurotic Independence (solo), Someday Gallery, NYC, US
A Group Show, Gallery Ann Mazzotti, Basel, CH
︎︎︎ Somebody And Somebody Else (solo), Künstlerhaus Bregenz, AT
︎︎︎ All Elbows But Liquid (solo), Bildraum 07, Vienna, AT

2023
︎︎︎ This Shows A Likeness (solo), Galería Pelaires, Palma, ESP
︎︎︎ On the New, Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT
Tales of Disorder, Galeria Pelaíres, Palma, ESP
︎︎︎ Serving Sentiment (solo), Angelika Kaufmann Museum, Schwarzenberg, AT
Browse / Spot / Date, Parking Space, Vienna, AT
Anton Faistauer Preis, Traklhaus Salzburg, AT

2022

︎︎︎ Focus on Sarah Bechter (solo), Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna, AT
Fragile Phantome, Galerie Zimmermann Kratochwill, Graz, AT
︎︎︎ Clinch (duo), Edition Doppelpunkt, Linz, AT

2021

︎︎︎ Lo otro maravilloso, Intersticio, Madrid, ESP
︎︎︎ Reading the Room, Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, CH
I love you, Quadrart Dornbirn, AT
︎︎︎ tame hosts (solo), Pilot, Vienna, AT
︎︎︎ Komisch‘ Wetter Zwei, Kunstverein Schattendorf, AT
Haus Wien, AT
les danses nocturnes, Eastcontemporary, FR
︎︎︎ upsetting the proportion of your ambience (duo), Kunstverein Bludenz, AT

2020

︎︎︎ flickering wrists (solo), tart vienna/Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman, Vienna, AT
Cruel Summer Camp, Exile Gallery, Vienna, AT
Neue Mitglieder, Künstlerhaus Bregenz, AT

2019

Culture Award of the State of Vorarlberg, ORF Landesfunkhaus Vorarlberg, AT
Spot, Magyar Muehely Galeria, Budapest, HU
summer art picnic, sort, Vienna, AT

2018

Übergänge & Zwischenräume, Quadrart Dornbirn, AT
Spazi aperti, Academia Romania Rom, IT
Kunstankäufe Land Vlbg 2017, Kunstverein Bludenz, AT
bildraumwelten, DOCK 20, Lustenau, AT
Quality Time, Whitedwarf Projects, Vienna, AT

2017

Theoretische Unterhaltung (solo), University of Applied Arts, Vienna, AT
GAL, Haus Wittgenstein, Vienna, AT
Transitions, Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna, AT