Untitled, 1977-78

Mixed media on handmade paper

Untitled, ca. 1970s

Mixed media on handmade paper

Untitled, 1975/80

China ink and gold leaf on paper

After studying textile art at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna in the 1950s, Greta Schödl moved to Bologna, Italy in 1959 where she became part of the cross-disciplinary movement Poesia Visiva (Visual Poetry), which united experimental poetry and visual expression. She has spent the past six decades honing her signature style of repeated handwritten words in Italian or German—sometimes illuminated with gold leaf—on various supports including handmade paper, books, personal letters, maps, and even household objects. Through her meticulous use of materials, Schödl imbues language with new meanings while foregrounding her personal experience. The obsessive repetition in her work is also a way of staking artistic presence. She has described the rhythmic lines in her untitled abstract drawings as “vibrations” that register thevariations and psychological traces of her handwriting and the process of making each piece. This longstanding, continuous approach to language forms the backbone Schödl’s oeuvre. It is informed by a rigorous search for an empowered, even feminist, self-awareness.