ABOUT
Moritz Messenböck was born in Vienna in 2000 with fibular aplasia, a rare birth defect in which the right fibula (calf bone) is missing. Crutches, painkillers, and regular surgeries have been a part of his life since early childhood.
This permanent physical condition forms a crucial starting point for his artistic thinking and continues to shape the thematic and formal direction of his work.
My works, primarily presented as canvases but also as accompanying painted book illustrations, are not about conveying a specific message. They are visualized inner dialogues, reflections, and thoughts, intended to make viewers pause and reflect. I want to highlight the complexity and multifaceted nature of our existence, as well as the outlook of a generation.
My works are an expression of confronting oneself, of not letting the hustle and bustle of everyday life distract one from the important questions of existence. They encourage facing the sometimes painful truth and not taking refuge in convenient excuses or easy alternatives. They are meant to be an invitation to engage with one's inner self, to arrive in reality and lose oneself within it, to enter into a dialogue with me, the artwork, and oneself.
His design practice developed during his school years, when he worked with his own screen printing press and experimentally further developed textiles through printing and painting. This early focus on materiality, process, and image formation led him, after graduating from high school, to the fashion school HLMW9.
From 2020 to 2023, he studied painting at the Vienna School of Art, graduating with a diploma. Between 2019 and 2023, Moritz Messenböck also worked under contract with the Aurora Art Gallery, gaining early insights into professional processes and Exhibition structures were obtained.
