Erwin Wurm

Hermann Wurm 

But there will come a time when the day dawns that finds itself compelled to let in the knowledge that the painter Herrmann Wurm first saw his light in Graz and that he then immediately reproduced that over the entire surface of the world. Graz… they will say… and Wurm… they will say… and the discoverer of the personal beam of light… they will say… and small town: great art… they will say and quite simply Grazart… they will say to themselves. Because proper Grazart, that is no mouse shit that some dog eats that then has to get run over by a freight-truck. And Grazart, that is also no irritated liver that has fallen out of an alcoholic corpse… as it was being washed. And Grazart is not at all something of no use… No one can take out Graz out of my life.

Mrs. Wurm

But what kind of art is it then, this Grazart?

Hermann Wurm

Well, Grazart… this type of art, it is, when the artistic people in the expressive city… get a grip on… their feelings… when a type of art strikes out from a unique origin, from the expressive Grazperson.

From: Werner Schwab, Volksvernichtung oder meine Leber ist sinnlos (1991)

Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz ; Centre national de la photographie, Paris ; Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Bologna ;

Gesellschaft der Freunde der Neuen Galerie Graz ; Kunst.Bundeskanzleramt ; Das Land Steiermark ; Alpha Romeo ; Galerie CC (Grazer Congress/Casino Graz) ; Vogl+Co