We are thrilled to present Vienna-based artist Anna Schachinger's (b. 1990) first solo exhibition in Frankfurt.

Anna Schachinger
Freischling

“ […] natures, cultures, subjects, and objects do not preexist their intertwined worldings”
Donna Haraway[1]

Anna Schachinger’s paintings do not claim autonomy. Rather, their materiality and texture, as well as their subjects, point to the conditions of their own creation. They engage with their surroundings—both the environment from which they emerge and the one in which they are presented. It is therefore not surprising that the exhibition bears the name of the Austrian village where the artist painted the works on display. How apt this name, Freischling, appears semantically for Schachinger’s practice—beyond its geographical meaning—may, however, be a coincidence. Like an oxymoron, it combines two supposed antagonists: Frei and Schling, which brings to mind a noose—freedom and bondage.

This liminal state, this in-between, hovers over the works like a leitmotif. They seem to shift effortlessly between abstraction and figuration, improvisation and intentionality, occasionally transcending the boundaries of their own frames and just as resolutely resisting clear categorization as they do binary logic or linear narration: The overlapping lines and planes of the paintings, whose partially glazed application of paint allows the underlying layers to show through or shine through, combine into ever-changing constellations, seem to be in a state of constant flux, and imply the simultaneity of different representations, as if they did not want to commit to a single image, a single truth. A sweeping, at times graphic or ornamental ink or brushstroke covers flat forms and backgrounds that do entirely without spatial perspective, and whose application of color always arises from a symbiosis with the materiality of the substrate. These are mostly textiles and garments from the artist’s personal use. Some of them already bear traces of color prior to their repurposing; others Schachinger stains with ink before stretching them onto the stretcher frame. Her artistic language thus always evolves from the process, the material itself, and her own enthusiasm for experimentation.

This playfulness is reflected, as it were, in the choice of motifs: there is, for example, Kleine Hexe mit erschöpfter Waldfee / Little Witch with Exhausted Forest Fairy (2025), a motif that recurs in Schachinger’s works and whose subversive potential—particularly within emancipatory discourses—cannot be dismissed. Tanzen gehen / Going Dancing (2025), Toe Tips / Toe Tips(2025), and Vornüber / Leaning Forward (2025) suggest lightness and carefree physical movement, while other works such as Nasenspitzen (mit Fenja) / Nose Tips (with Fenja) (2025) or Auf Augenhöhe / Eye to Eye (2025) depict moments of unguarded intimacy and human coexistence. The rural environment, so central to this creative period, is also reflected—for example, in the case of Falle von Wollmispeln / Wool Medlars (2023)—in nearly naturalistic depictions of nature and animals, while works such as Grind (2023) strive entirely toward abstraction and reveal Schachinger’s delight in the material and in pushing the boundaries of her medium.

So much for freedom. Despite all the anarchy, however, Schachinger’s works never negate the context of their creation. The question of which materials are currently available, as well as the artist’s situatedness within her environment and society at large, directly influence form and motif. Decisions such as using fabric remnants from personal garments as a canvas and patching them together—should they not fully span the stretcher frame—which are sometimes made on a whim or out of pure pragmatism, subvert the auratic charge of the medium of painting. Given the history of feminist art, the choice of “precarious” materials from the domestic context cannot be entirely denied as having political implications beyond this formal deconstruction and democratization. However, reducing this decision to conceptual calculation would not do justice to Schachinger’s work: it does not appear strategic, but rather intuitive. Like a membrane—between inside and outside, past and present—the supports absorb their surroundings, entering into reaction and exchange. They mark not a boundary, but a connection. Their nature thus constantly refers to their own temporality and transience, lending the works an almost physical presence.

Text: Anna Helena Marckwald

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Anna Schachinger (b. 1990, lives and works in Vienna)

Anna Schachinger graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and participated in the maumaus Independent Study Program in Lisbon.

She is currently a professor of Art and Image | Figuration at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

Schachinger’s works are on view in the exhibition “Lives and Works in Vienna,” which opens in April 2026 at the Kunsthalle Wien, and in May 2026 she will present a solo exhibition in the entrance hall of the Austrian Chamber of Labor.

Solo exhibitions (selection): Céu Limpo, SOPHIE TAPPEINER, Vienna (2024), Wachstumfuge, MQ Art Box, Vienna, Health, Prosperity, Joy, Encounter Contemporary, Lisbon (2023); Allover, Lumiar Cité, Lisbon, Aneinander, SOPHIE TAPPEINER, Vienna (2022); Disaster!, with Julia Goodman, SOPHIE TAPPEINER hosted by Zahorian & Van Espen Gallery, Prague as part of SUMO, Hitze, SOPHIE TAPPEINER, Vienna (2020); Desta Maneira Não, Madragoa ENCIMA, Lisbon, Pensive State with Irina Lotarevich, SOPHIE TAPPEINER, Vienna (2019); Holderinnen, Brennan and Griffin, New York, Lost in Thoughts, fourteen30, Portland (2018); alles, lulu, Mexico City (2017).

Group exhibitions (selection): Future of Melancholia, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (2025); Gekauft! und dann?, MUSA, Vienna (2024); Systems of Support, Salzburger Kunstverein (2023); Anton Faistauer Prize 2023, Traklhaus, Salzburg (2023); Avant-Garde and the Contemporary (c: Luisa Ziaja), Belvedere 21, Vienna, A Minor Constellation, Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles (2022); Ernesto de Sousa, Exercises of Poetic Communication with Other Aesthetic Operators (curated by Lilou Vidal), Galeria Quadrum and Avenida da India Gallery, Lisbon, Avant-Garde and the Contemporary, Belvedere 21, Vienna, Particularities, X Museum, Beijing, Therein / Thereof / Thereto Standard, Oslo (2021); Prince.sse.s des villes, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, La peinture abstraite, La Maison de Rendez-Vous, Brussels, Gertrude, Loggia, Munich (2019); Use your Illusion, Herald Street, London (2018).

Anna Schachinger * 2026 * Solo Show at Jacky Strenz