Eva GENTNER, 2025 Beton 14/20 Beton 14/20

Having worked with cement for many years, Eva Gentner had gradually abandoned this medium for ecological reasons, turning her attention to more sustainable art forms, such as drawing. When she was offered a chance to present a solo exhibition at the STRABAG ART Site, she laid the groundwork for her “Beton” (“Concrete”) series by finding out more about innovative building materials thanks to exchanges with STRABAG, obtaining material samples from one of the company’s quarries in Carinthia. That served as the starting point for the artist to conceive a 20-part “Beton” (“Concrete”) series, which includes these pieces. Although seemingly works on canvas, these works are in fully compostable material made from “alternative cement”. Her pictorial objects draw on a mix of material cast from stone dust (amphibolite) bound with sodium silicate. The mixing ratio, the way the material is applied to the canvas, and the drying process influence the morphology of her art, giving rise to individual panels that all look very different. Eva Gentner sees her work as a kind of artistic experiment with the material and the changes in its surface structure that arise during and after her artistic interventions.