The private mythology of the universe that Walla created for himself represents the point of departure for all his art. In order to capture this world, he made use of an intermedia approach, in which there were also no hierarchies within the various media. His oeuvre encompasses painting (easel painting, wall painting, graffiti), drawing, text, sculpture, installation, art in public spaces, performance, and photography. Walla’s art is extremely closely connected with his biography or, more precisely, his ideas about himself and his person. Proceeding from the death of his grandmother and fear of losing his mother, the artist led a lifelong battle against death. The concept of eternity— into which his grandmother had entered, according to the Christian faith—took on great significance. For Walla, there was an “Ewigkeitende” (Eternity-end), which suggests something new after the end of eternity and does not mean the end. This notion of the end of eternity plays a major role in Walla’s thought; the words “Ewigkeitende” and its synonym “Weltallende” (Universe-end) form a common thread running through his entire oeuvre. In his body of work, he created a universe for himself based on his own private mythology: it consists of “Eternity-end-land,” its own language, symbolisms, and a divine world. Satttus— the “Eternity-end-god”—protects humanity, which is why Walla hopes to find a defense against the god of death through his friendship. Walla was also uncertain about his gender identity, that is, whether he was a girl or a boy. His own interpretation for himself was that during the Nazi period, he had been a “Nazi girl,” but that he was subsequently made into a “Communist double-boy” in the course of a “Russian operation” carried out when Austria was occupied by the Soviet Union. This sex-change narrative also explains his frequent use of political emblems, which had an entirely personal significance for him: a reverse swastika turned to the left stands for femininity and a hammer and sickle for masculinity.

August Walla was born in Klosterneuburg on June 22, 1936; he grew up with his mother Aloisia and his grandmother Rosina. Until 1983 Walla and his mother lived in various apartments in Klosterneuburg, and these also served him as a surface on which to express himself artistically. He decorated his surroundings by bringing his philosophy and the entire spectrum of his art into the world around him; this also led him to completely fill the community-garden plot where the Wallas spent their summer months in the meadows along the Danube with his inscriptions, emblems, and symbols. In November 1983, Walla and his mother moved into what is now the “House of Artists,” where he painted the walls and ceiling of his room with his objects, figures, writings, and symbols. The artist lived and worked there until his death on July 7, 2001.

https://www.augustwalla.at/