Background
Otto Muehl was born on June 16, 1925 in Mariasdorf, Austria.
Otto Muehl was born on June 16, 1925 in Mariasdorf, Austria.
After serving in the German Wehrmacht during World War II, Otto earned a teaching degree in German and History from the University of Vienna and also studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.
From the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, Otto worked as an art therapist for emotionally disturbed children.
In 1972, he founded the Friedrichshof Commune, which was viewed by some as an authoritarian sect, and that existed for several years before falling apart in the 1990s.The commune, which at its height had about 600 members, also spawned like-minded groups elsewhere in Europe. Among its tenets were the repudiation of property, the irrelevance of the traditional family unit and rock-ribbed opposition to monogamy.
In 1974, Otto played a small role as a member of an anarchic/therapy commune in Dusan Makavejev's Sweet Movie.
In 1991, Muehl was convicted of sexual offences with minors and drugs offences and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. In prison, Muehl was intensely engaged with works of visual arts — he painted about 300 pictures and wrote extensively about art theory. Otto was released in 1997, after serving six and a half years, and set up a smaller commune in Portugal. After his release, he also published his memoirs from the prison (Aus dem Gefängnis).
Since 1998, Muehl held two major solo exhibitions at the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna.
In 2002, Otto Muehl developed "electric painting films", a new technique, in which he painted digital photos from actions, using a computer tablet and pen, and edited the process into films.
In 2010, his works were exhibited at Leopold Museum in Vienna. The same year, Otto publicly apologized for his actions.
Mama and Papa 6
Mama and Papa 10
Mama and Papa 8
Mama and Papa 5
Mama and Papa 1
Cosinus Alpha 7
Mama and Papa 3
Versumpfung Einer Venus 6
Cosinus Alpha 3
Versumpfung Einer Venus 2
Mama and Papa 2
Versumpfung Einer Venus 4
Versumpfung Einer Venus 3
Cosinus Alpha 2
Mama and Papa 4
Versumpfung Einer Venus 8
Versumpfung Einer Venus 7
Cosinus Alpha 1
Cosinus Alpha 8
Versumpfung Einer Venus 10
Mama and Papa 9
Cosinus Alpha 6
Cosinus Alpha 5
Mama and Papa 7
Cosinus Alpha 4
Versumpfung Einer Venus 1
Versumpfung Einer Venus 5
Versumpfung Einer Venus 9
Otto Muehl believed, that the human body itself should serve as the canvas for his raw, uncompromising aesthetic.
Quotations:
"I enjoy confounding people. That is my big idea. I have nothing more."
"I've surely made mistakes in the community, but certainly not in sexuality."
"I have been making art for 50 years and have never allowed myself to be corrupted. Quite the opposite, I was locked up."
Friedel Neiss was Otto's first wife and Claudia Weissensteiner was his second wife.
Muehl had eleven children from different women and three grandchildren.