Heimo Zobernig will represent Austria at the 56th Venice International Art Biennale. The artist was selected by Yilmaz Dziewior, Commissioner of the Austrian pavilion.

Zobernig was born in 1958 in Mauthen, Austria. He started his career in the late 1970s as a stage designer and performer but moved to abstract painting by the mid-1980s. His experience as a stage designer, however, has had an enduring influence on his later installation work, which often features environments, complete with fabric curtains and lights, within which his works are installed.

Zoberning’s oeuvre is focused on an exploration of the legacy of Modernism, typically through a revision of artistic movements like Minimalism and the exploration of color theory.

In 2000, the artist began to work prolifically on an ongoing series of grid paintings, for which he is perhaps best known, and which reference artists like Piet Mondrian, Blinky Palermo, Wassily Kandinsky, and Josef Albers. Zoberning recent works combine monochromes with written words.

Recent solo exhibitions of his work include Galerie Bärbel Grässelin, in Frankfurt; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Spain, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris; Simon Lee Gallery, London; CAPC, musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux; Sammlung Haubrok, Berlin, and Tate St. Ives.

The 56th Venice Biennale will run from 9 May to 22 November 2015.