ERNST CARAMELLE: two dots one line

The Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY) is delighted to announce two dots one line, a comprehensive survey of the work of Austrian artist Ernst Caramelle, one of the leading voices in contemporary conceptual art. Featuring excerpts from Caramelle’s five-decade-spanning oeuvre, the exhibition explores his extensive range of mediums, including experimental works on paper, video installations, publications, and his signature gesso and sun pieces. Additionally, a new site-specific intervention, inspired by the distinctive Raimund Abraham-designed architecture of the ACFNY building on 52nd Street, will be on view.

Caramelle’s work blends intellectual rigor and precision with spontaneous creativity. Known for its lightness, wit, and subtlety, his oeuvre examines the nature of art and the artist’s role in shaping meaning. His playful investigations often pose the question, “What is art?” — inviting viewers to reconsider their assumptions and experiences. Drawing from his background in stained glass, Caramelle employs unique techniques of layering, transparency, and light. His compositions—frequently featuring geometric forms, vivid colors, and deliberate arrangements—engage both visually and conceptually. Challenging artistic conventions, he maintains a spirit of joy and experimentation.

The exhibition title, two dots one line, reflects Caramelle’s signature approach to visual representation, where simplicity and abstraction become meditations on creation itself. The minimalist pairing of two dots and one line—evoking the basic elements of a face—serves as a poetic metaphor for Caramelle’s expansive conceptual universe. In his hands, simple forms transform into dynamic expressions of possibility, inviting visitors to explore personal interpretations while reflecting on the artistic process.

Born in 1952 in Tyrol, Austria, Ernst Caramelle has exhibited extensively at prestigious international venues, including at New York’s Peter Freeman, Inc. in 2023. His solo exhibitions include retrospectives at the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (Vienna, 2018), Bonnefanten Museum (Maastricht, 2016), Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus (Ohio 2012), Galerie im Taxispalais (Innsbruck, 2008), and Museu Fundação Serralves (Porto, 2005). His work has also been featured at the National Gallery (Berlin, 1990), Kunsthalle Bern (1986), and Wiener Secession (1993). It is part of the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Austria, among many others.

In addition to his artistic practice, Caramelle has made a significant impact as an educator. He served as a guest professor at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main from 1981 to 1983, and at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna from 1986 to 1990. From 1994 to 2018, he held a professorship at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe, where he also served as rector from 2012 to 2018. Caramelle lives and works in Frankfurt, Germany, and New York City.