Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s contribution to the 1987 Luna Luna park was the Collage Poster Depicting a Carnivalesque Dreamscape

Friedensreich Hundertwasser designed a collaged poster of a carnivalesque dreamscape for Luna Luna.

Artist

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Attraction

Collaged poster depicting a carnivalesque dreamscape

Born

1928, Austria

A leading figure of the “organic” architecture movement, Hundertwasser tirelessly campaigned against the use of straight lines in architecture and design

In one of his many projects of ecological activism, he planted 100 trees in Washington, D.C., and called it “Hundertwasser Day”

He developed “transautomatism,” a theory around the power of fluid lines to elicit the subconscious

Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

Painter and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser built his career around his love for the natural world. Hundertwasser’s lifelong rejection of the monotonous, straight lines that dominate man-made design led him to design undulating, biomorphic forms that would exist in harmony with their surrounding environments.

Hundertwasser’s lifelong rejection of the monotonous, straight lines that dominate man-made design led him to design undulating, biomorphic forms.

André Heller, Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
André Heller, Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

During Hundertwasser’s early career as a painter, he was strongly influenced by the Abstract Expressionist movement’s emphasis on spontaneity and by Surrealism’s juxtaposition of unexpected subject matter. Through his vibrant paintings, which often feature labyrinthine spirals splashed with droplets of contrasting colors, Hundertwasser developed the concept of “transautomatism,” a theory that emphasized the power of fluid lines to evoke subconscious feelings.

In the 1950s, Hundertwasser turned primarily towards architecture, pioneering an alternative “organic” architecture movement that prioritized rounded, untraditional forms in defiance of the classic rules of architecture. Best known among Hundertwasser’s many projects is the Hundertwasserhaus, an apartment building in Vienna that features a grass-covered roof, a multi-colored façade, a room with an uneven, ergonomic floor, and several large trees growing in the interior.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

For Luna Luna, Hundertwasser created a collaged poster of a carnivalesque dreamscape depicting two faces with tongues sticking out of their mouths. With twin caps made from rising suns, eyes falling over crashing waves, and faces made from many-windowed city buildings, these two faces draw the viewer into André Heller’s “territory of surprises,” as a phrase on the poster reads.

Forgotten Fantasy

Los Angeles, CA
Closing May 12 Closing May 12

Thirty-six years ago, Luna Luna landed in Hamburg, Germany: the world’s first art amusement park with rides, games, and attractions by visionaries like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and David Hockney. By a twist of fate, the park’s treasures were soon sealed in 44 shipping containers and forgotten in Texas—until now.