ZURICH.- Galerie Eva Presenhuber announced the representation of Vienna-based artist Liesl Raff.

Liesl Raff's sculptures explore the nuances of physical and social interactions through a profound appreciation of diverse materials and persistent experimentation. Her work features a semiotics of materials that begins where words fail. Recently, she has used natural rubber to showcase its adaptable and shape-shifting properties. Standing near or within Raff's pieces, you experience a transition into a warm, cozy, and calm state, feeling a sense of dependability and safety. Her sculptures integrate seamlessly with their surroundings, promoting contact and interaction. Raff creates gathering spaces that encourage connections between people, her works, and their environment. Her art is about living with and learning from her materials, fostering engagement, and eliminating the distance between the work and the viewer.

I have always been a fan of Liesl Raff's extraordinary sculptures, and I am thrilled that she has decided to join our gallery! Based in Vienna, she represents a vibrant and promising contemporary art scene that I have watched blossom over the past 40 years since I studied there. I look forward to Liesl's immersive and performative installations that will transform the Austrian Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea and the Lyon Biennale in France, both this September, as well as a solo show at our gallery in Zurich in early 2025. – Eva Presenhuber

In November 2023, Galerie Eva Presenhuber showed four of Raff's sculptures in the group exhibition MELENCOLIA at Maag Areal, Zurich. In September 2024, Raff will represent Austria at the 15th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea, and the gallery will show one of her sculptures at Frieze Seoul. Later that month, she will also participate in the 17th Lyon Biennale for Contemporary Art. In February 2025, a major solo exhibition will be presented at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Maag Areal, Zurich.

Liesl Raff was born 1979 in Stuttgart, Germany, and lives and works in Vienna, Austria. In recent years, she has presented solo exhibitions at fjk3 – Contemporary Art Space, Vienna, AT (2023); Kunstraum Remise, Bludenz, AT (2023); and Kunstfenster Gnas, Gnas, AT (2022). In 2021, she presented an installation with aluminium castings and latex works at Biennale für Freiburg in Freiburg, DE. She has participated in group exhibitions at institutions including Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Vienna, AT (2023); Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, AT (2022); Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT (2021); mumok, Vienna, AT (2021; 2012); Forum Kunst Rottweil, Rottweil, DE (2020); Westwerk, Hamburg, DE (2018); Shangrila, Joshua Tree National Park, CA, US (2015); and Kunstraum NÖ, Vienna, AT (2014).