August Walla
1936 - 2001
untitled, mixed media, h = 40, Ø 24 cm
Heilige 3 3Ewigkeitendegötter, colored pencil on paper, 31 x 44 cm
Germanitas.., colored pencil on paper, 29,7 x 21,8 cm
Peanrnr+Yeptenteu=Flpeanrnr, colored pencil on paper, 29,7 x 20,8 cm
August Waller grew up with his mother and grandmother. He went to a grammar school for a year and afterwards to a special needs school.
From 1952 on, his stays in the psychiatric ward of the regional hospital Maria Gugging became more and more frequent. Since 1983 he had lived in the “House of Artists” of the hospital.
Walla had been artistically engaged since his adolescence; he painted, drew, took photographs, and also worked as a calligraphist. His paintings feature streets, houses, and trees in landscapes, in which he has placed symbols and signs. One of the most multidimensional autodidactic artists, Walla has created his own private mythology, populated with gods, devils, and strange creatures from other galaxies, structured by its own iconography of simple symbols and words.
