Bernhard Schobinger

Bernhard Schobinger testifies through his work to a constant experimentation that resists any hierarchisation of the arts. His reuse of ordinary, almost crude, materials shares some of the methods of Surrealism and Arte Povera, as well as display an early influence of Constructivism’s industrial, angular style. But overall, it’s a punk ethos that has permeated Schobinger’s work ever since he encountered the burgeoning subculture in the late-1970s.

From his connections with Concrete art to punk rebellion, from postmodern eclecticism to the smallest of zen-influenced touches, Schobinger’s work makes extensive use of formal and technical invention. His practice brings together opposites, transfiguring everyday objects charged with individual histories. 

A retrospective devoted to Bernhard Schobinger, entitled B.S. Kosmos – 50 Years of Creation, was organized by Friart in Fribourg in 2024. His work has been widely published and is represented in major public collections worldwide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Houston; LACMA, Los Angeles; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Museum of Australia, Canberra; the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and ’s-Hertogenbosch; the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; the Pinakothek der Moderne / Die Neue Sammlung, Dannerstiftung, Munich; the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; MUDAC, Lausanne; the Museum Bellerive and the Schweizerisches National Museum, Zurich; MAKK – Museum of Applied Arts, Cologne. Schobinger was the recipient of the Françoise van den Bosch Award Iin 1998 in recognition of his influential contribution to the arts.