Christoph Lissy

1957 (Hörbranz am Bodensee / Lake Constance), lives and works in Vienna and Hörbanz

After an apprenticeship as an ironmonger, he made his first attempts with sculpture. In 1978 he attended the Academy of Music, Bregenz (tone motion and composition) and, in 1980, he attended one of the many free art schools in Stuttgart for one semester. From 1980 till 1987 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna under Bruno Gironcoli, whose sculptures, drawings and attitude toward sculpture had an enduring influence on Lissy.

In 1984 the artist presented his works at the steirischer herbst festival in Graz. In 1986 works were shown at the exhibition Junge Szene Wien at Secession Vienna. This was followed by initial experiments with various different materials and a series of works with flying objects. In 1990 he received the second prize in the context of Hypo-Kunstpreis (art prize). In 2002 participating in the “Kunst am Bau” (art in building) competition, he produced a sculpture of Dornbirn Technical College. In 2003 he exhibited in public spaces in Vienna and, in 2004, his works were shown at Galerie K12 für Gegenwartskunst (for contemporary art) in Bregenz. From 2005 till 2006 the artist presented work at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenzer Galerie Lisi Hämmerle and in public spaces in Dornbirn.

With a high degree of perfection in their conception and execution, Lissy’s sculptures convey tense juxtapositions of sensitivity and aggression. For many observers, his technoid, futuristic pieces of apparatus contain the potential to threaten, albeit also harbouring a fascinating force of attraction at the same time. This student of Gironcoli is often clearly recognisable by virtue of his forms. The sculptures are particularly impressive for their mix of architectural technoid and organic forms. The forms he uses are certainly not derived from everyday objects, then to be relayed in abstraction, but rather he initiates a new sign language with proprietary, new forms of his own invention.