Amelie Goetzl, from the 12-part series: SEQUENCES, 2024, No. X, photograph digitally printed on velvet, 125 cm x 55 cm

-born 1991 in Amstetten
-lives and works in Vienna
-first studied fashion design at the University of Art in Linz and later at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna with Daniel Richter and Christian Schwarzwald painting and printmaking

Amelie Goetzl's work combines drawing, sculpture, and photography into a multifaceted visual language. What appears decorative at first glance—sequins, shiny fabrics, bright colors—contains resistance: Goetzl uses seemingly everyday materials to visualize feminist and political themes. Beneath the glitter lies an uneasy depth.

The actor Wojo van Brouwer describes her current
Work aptly with the words: “The gloom is still there, but it glitters.”
In her art, sequins become statements – with references to glitter bombing and queer protest culture. Amelie Goetzl's imagery is populated by hybrid creatures, plant forms, and aposematic colors – as if borrowed from the deep sea and the animal kingdom.
Her art moves underwater, but also beneath the surface of our perception, in the depths of the unconscious, "where neuroses thrive," as the work's title suggests. Microscopic close-ups of sequin photographs open up new perspectives on material, surface, and meaning. Goetzl's works invite us to look closely: What lies beneath the shine? What reveals itself behind the beauty?

Text: Barbara Steininger