Greta Schödl is a visual poet born who graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Vienna in 1953. The recent Scritture (Scriptures) series, which includes Piccolo marmo rosato (2020), Granito rosso Serra Chica (2020), and Marmo basso calcareo (2023), is characteristic of Schödl’s long-standing approach to working. All-over writing covers the flat or curved faces of her objects, giving shape to her words. Onto these stones, chosen for their tactile quality, Schödl repeats the handwritten words marmo (marble), granito (granite), or quarzite (quartzite), distinguishing their material composition. The artist then singles out a letter in the word (“o” or “q” in these cases) onto which gold leaf is burnished. The gold highlights appear as delicate lines across the stones and create a rhythm on the surface, transforming her writing into an abstract drawing. These lines are described by the artist as “vibrations” that register the variations in the handwriting and the artist’s experience or process of making.
—Teresa Kittler
