Andreas Scheiger lives and works in Vienna, Austria.
Drawing and painting, handicraft working and sculpting always has been his passion. Already in his early years his teachers asked him to illustrate the school´s newspaper. Later he was the leading illustrator of Austria´s biggest students´magazine, which in turn led to various assignments. Andreas Scheiger cultivated his technical skills when he worked as a graphic designer and later as an art director in advertising. Inspired by pop art, bauhaus and modernism and the inherent idea of combining graphic design with free art, he passionately experiments with materials and styles. In all his works he aspires to create a visual impact by simplifying a complex concept.
Andreas Scheiger´s primary works celebrate the craft of etching, engraving and letter design with a nod to both science and the graphic design of the Victorian era. The work of his "Graphic Laboratory" is surreal and yet steeped in craftmanship, rendered with the same care Victorian scientists once lavished on their instruments and instrument boxes. His ongoing project “Evolution of Type” is inspired by The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering, a book by the pioneering and vastly prolific American type designer Frederic W. Goudy. Goudy laid great stress on the revolutionary impact of the alphabetic system of writing. He believed that letters were themselves a record of man’s history and development, and that each possessed an essential and organic form. Inspired by these ideas, Andreas Scheiger has created typographic sculptures and instructional posters: letters preserved in amber like prehistoric insects, suspended in specimen tanks like budding embryos, or with their casings incised and retracted. Andreas Scheiger interpretes letters as organisms and typefaces as species, all classified similar to biological taxonomy. Each letter displays the anatomical features and evolutionary characteristics shared by so many living creatures.
"I do not reduce myself to specific tools, media or style but use what is adequate to reach a certain effect", he says. "That may be old bicycle parts and dynamo lamps, corrugated cardboard or wood leftovers. Or a straight computer print. Interesting visual impacts sleep in every object".
His "corrugated portraits" change their appearance according to lighting, a lenticular effect which is achieved by cut corrugated cardboard only. Thus, the portraits seem to have a life of their own. Scheiger´s "Upcycle fetishes" may serve as bicycle and coat hangers but primarily were created to render homage to the invention of the bicycle.
Scheiger´s work has gained international acclaim through internet bloggers and traditional media.
Drawing and painting, handicraft working and sculpting always has been his passion. Already in his early years his teachers asked him to illustrate the school´s newspaper. Later he was the leading illustrator of Austria´s biggest students´magazine, which in turn led to various assignments. Andreas Scheiger cultivated his technical skills when he worked as a graphic designer and later as an art director in advertising. Inspired by pop art, bauhaus and modernism and the inherent idea of combining graphic design with free art, he passionately experiments with materials and styles. In all his works he aspires to create a visual impact by simplifying a complex concept.
Andreas Scheiger´s primary works celebrate the craft of etching, engraving and letter design with a nod to both science and the graphic design of the Victorian era. The work of his "Graphic Laboratory" is surreal and yet steeped in craftmanship, rendered with the same care Victorian scientists once lavished on their instruments and instrument boxes. His ongoing project “Evolution of Type” is inspired by The Alphabet and Elements of Lettering, a book by the pioneering and vastly prolific American type designer Frederic W. Goudy. Goudy laid great stress on the revolutionary impact of the alphabetic system of writing. He believed that letters were themselves a record of man’s history and development, and that each possessed an essential and organic form. Inspired by these ideas, Andreas Scheiger has created typographic sculptures and instructional posters: letters preserved in amber like prehistoric insects, suspended in specimen tanks like budding embryos, or with their casings incised and retracted. Andreas Scheiger interpretes letters as organisms and typefaces as species, all classified similar to biological taxonomy. Each letter displays the anatomical features and evolutionary characteristics shared by so many living creatures.
"I do not reduce myself to specific tools, media or style but use what is adequate to reach a certain effect", he says. "That may be old bicycle parts and dynamo lamps, corrugated cardboard or wood leftovers. Or a straight computer print. Interesting visual impacts sleep in every object".
His "corrugated portraits" change their appearance according to lighting, a lenticular effect which is achieved by cut corrugated cardboard only. Thus, the portraits seem to have a life of their own. Scheiger´s "Upcycle fetishes" may serve as bicycle and coat hangers but primarily were created to render homage to the invention of the bicycle.
Scheiger´s work has gained international acclaim through internet bloggers and traditional media.