Bachtiar’s oeuvre encompasses two worlds of drawings: one in color and one in black and gray. But both are closely bound up with one another and grow out of the same source - a framework of lines. Created with a pencil, these lines generate shapes or, rather, building blocks, which are then combined to form a motif and are subsequently transected by other lines. However, this underlying framework is only rarely left to stand on its own. Instead, it forms the basis for Bachtiar’s compositions, which began to display a colorful character in 1990 and have often been created with pencil or black marker since 2003. She sometimes works so extensively on top of the pencil lines, which had previously remained recognizable, that they seem to disappear entirely. Compositions like these are among the most expressive pieces in Bachtiar’s oeuvre.

The artist signs her works with her first name written in capital letters and then adds numbers, but these do not signify the date of the work. Instead, they represent a code that was developed by Bachtiar, is understood only by her, and provides her with personal points of orientation relative to her work.

The world of Bachtiar’s drawings is made up of themes that occupy her personally and are of great significance to her. Thus, for example, the artist has pursued one central theme ever since she began drawing: the animal kingdom. In her small- and medium-format pictures, we find indigenous animals (cats, ducks, and rabbits) as well as exotic ones (dolphins, elephants, and large predators). These are joined by depictions of people (usually shown frontally), objects, and nature. Bachtiar works from memory and only very rarely makes use of any model when beginning a picture. Details are sometimes not even visible to viewers, because her works’ content often disappears behind the dense drawing that characterizes Bachtiar’s inimitable art.

Laila Bachtiar was born into a family of musicians in Vienna on August 31, 1971. Her mother is a cellist and her father, who has Afghan roots, studied singing, trumpet, and piano. From 1978 to 1989, she attended three special-education schools, and her artistic talent was also recognized there. She lived in various group homes beginning in 1989, then moved back in with her mother in 1994. That is when her talent was identified by the artist Ernst Fuchs as well as members of the shared Hamburg studio known as “Die Schlumper” (The Slipshodders). In 1990 she began coming to the “House of Artists,” where she received extensive support as Gugging’s first artist in residence. Since 2003 she has also been creating her (often time-consuming) art in the atelier gugging, which is located next to the “House of Artists.”