Bernhard Buhmann
Artists & Curators · Europe“Vienna-born and winner of the STRABAG Art Award in 2008, Bernhard Buhmann moves between abstraction and figuration in paintings represented by Carbon 12 in Dubai.”
Why Bernhard Buhmann is in the Design 100
Bernhard Buhmann trained on both sides of Vienna’s academic divide, a master’s in sociology and communication science from the University of Vienna, then painting at the University of Applied Arts. That grounding shows in the work: geometric abstraction and figuration pulled into the same canvas until the two register as one language, populated by clowns, fantasy creatures and mechanical-biomorphic figures. The STRABAG Art Award recognised that language in 2008, early in a career built steadily since.
The paintings have since found a second home in the Gulf. Carbon 12 in Dubai has given Buhmann’s practice a Middle Eastern base since 2019, from the solo show The Chaser, the Ambusher and the Fickle to 2024’s Errantries, a two-artist show built on layering and erasure with Emirati painter Sarah Almehairi. His work now sits in the Museum of Young Art in Vienna, the Salsali Private Museum in Dubai and the Pizzuti Collection in Ohio.