Since the 1970s, Ernst Caramelle, born in Hall in Tirol, in 1952, has brought forth an impressively complex oeuvre in a wealth of different media, including drawing, photography, light objects, as well as paintings on wood, carton, gessoed surfaces, and walls. His conceptual works often reflect architectural elements of their immediate setting, mirror perspectives, and create new spatial illusions that way. His interest focuses on the trustworthiness of the visible, the question of original versus fake, production versus reproduction, following the motto “art is a fake”. Thus, Ernst Caramelle’s artistic output is of extraordinary pertinence. Not much present in Tyrol so far, he has been showing his work in international solo and group exhibitions, e.g., at the Sydney Biennial, in 1990, or Documenta IX in Kassel, in 1992.
The Klocker Foundation art prize is the principal instrument in the art promotion activities as envisaged by founder Emmy Klocker and has been handed out, since 2014, alternatingly as a main and an advancement award. Ernst Caramelle is the fourth recipient of the Klocker Foundation’s main award, after Lois Weinberger (2014), Martha Jungwirth (2016), and Gottfried Bechtold (2018).
