An intimate and unsettling diary featuring 56 self-portraits drawn in black and coloured pencils, extensively annotated by the artist.
In the Arms of Luck brings together 56
self-portraits, executed at a regular rhythm between the Spring of 1997 and the Winter of 1999. These pencil and charcoal
drawings, sometimes enhanced with colors, are all appearing in the book in chronological order.
Autobiographical notes to the drawings provides background information on the artist's search for identity, which oscillates between love and hate, self-satisfaction and disgust, fantasy and critical distance. The Austrian artist endorses the feminist statement “The Intimate is Political,” and also wants her intimacy to be a
collectable object. Krystufek's image is multiplied until it becomes abstract, and iconic: “The ongoing repetition of my face it's a relief though it's stupid as a black square or numbers”.
Published following the eponymous exhibition, Centre d'édition contemporaine, Genève, from September 24 to November 20, 1999.
Elke Silvia Krystufek (born 1970 in Vienna, lives and works in Vienna and Berlin) is a multidisciplinary artist, involved in painting, photography, video, collage, drawing, performance and sound. Her work covers issues related to
sex and the representation of the self.
