Prachensky Markus Innsbruck *1932 - †2011 Vienna Prachensky is reckoned to be one of the most important representatives of the Austrian Avantgarde and Informel. His work is reduced to the marrow, to the expression of line and colour.
Markus Prachensky was born 1932 son to the architect and paintner Wilhelm Nicolaus Prachensky in Innsbruck. 1952 Prachensky moved to Vienna and started to study architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts. From 1953 on he studied painting with Albert Paris Gütersloh, together with Wolfgang Hollegha, Josef Mikl and Arnulf Rainer he was one of the founder members of the artist group around Monsignore Otto Mauer’s Galerie nächst St. Stephan.
After starting with figurative art Prachensky took the turn to abstract painting in the 1950ies and until his death he remained a consistent representative of informal Tachism. From 1957 Prachensky lived alternating in Paris and Vienna, from 1963 on he often stayed in Berlin and from 1967 on in Los Angeles. He was fascinated by the desert and the cliffy rocks and returned several times to the American West Coast, where he painted diverse cycles, like ‘California miles’ and ‘California revisited’. From 1983 to 2000 he guided the master class for painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
Prachensky, whose paintings can be found in important museums and collections, was decorated with the “Große Goldene Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich”/the great golden medal for merits about the republic of Austria.
