For a change: About Me, Myself and I - the artist behind the art

THE ARTIST BEHIND THE ART

IT WAS ALL REINHARD SCHMID'S IDEA - a challenge for artists to post about themselves:

THE ARTIST BEHIND THE ART TREAT.

Please check the link above for the simple rules. Everyone can participate. Use as one of your tags #artistbehindthearttreat
So far, you find 2 posts, and once I hit publish, it will be three.

Please note:
many of the images posted are much larger,
to view, right click and select 'open in new tab'

MY WEBSITE
to start with - there you find some information about my art

^{click for my website ▲
this image is a selfportrait based on a promo photo by the Hungarian photographer Bela Unger,

taken in Stockholm when I was about 20 years old ▼}

Otto Portraits by Bela Unger 003.jpg

which brings me to reveal a little bit about myself

_{I was a cute baby - at least my mother said so!} Otto Rapp

_{Family Picture with my baby sister}

_{my first passport photo - 1961}

Born in 1944 in Felixdorf, Lower Austria, I lived and was educated in Vienna, where later I worked as a clerk in the Transport and Insurance Business. After completing service in the Austrian Air Force, I traveled throughout Europe, eventually settling in Stockholm, Sweden.

When I was a child, my grandfather, a very scholarly and educated man who loved art and rare books, took me to exhibitions in Vienna. Some of those were of the young artists of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. There was no TV or any other distractions back then: when I visited my grandfather, he always had a stack of paper and sharpened pencils ready for me. I already then entered into my solitary dream world building my own little universe in the drawings I then produced.
Artists I’ve seen these days were Helmut Leherb, Ernst Fuchs, Rudolf Hausner and others I only recognized by name later, when I began my research.

I would go to the Akademie der Bildenden Künste and walk the halls of the Art Collection, but also peeked into the studios and watched.

Later on, I would go to the Akademie der Bildenden Künste and walk the halls of the Art Collection, but also peeked into the studios and watched. I could stand quietly for hours absorbing how a student would copy an old master in the gallery.

_{In the Austrian Air Force, around 1962 - during that time, I was married, but away from home. Coming back, the marriage didn't last long.}

_{Here I am, getting married for the first time, 1961 - it lasted less than a year. Heartbroken I left Vienna, following an invitation by a friend who had gone to Sweden a year earlier, and he secured a job for me. "There are plenty of beautiful women in Sweden, come join us here"
he said.}

From Sweden to Canada

With friends at a party in Stockholm. I am hardly recognizable, clean-shaven for a change!
This is about the only picture I have from my time in Sweden. I had lost a computer and a hard drive with many old photos. ►

I lived and worked in Stockholm, Sweden for about 4 years. Traveling around in 1968, I wound up in Western Canada where I eventually settled in Lethbridge, Alberta. The following year, I started to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

_{I was working as a Yardman switching trains in the CPR yards in Lethbridge. Later I became Yard Foreman, and once interchangeable seniority was established, I went on the road as a Brakeman and Conductor.}

_{After quitting in 1977 to attend the University of Lethbridge Art Department, I again returned to the Railway in 1982, at first as a Freight Conductor, but then after a lay-off I took on a job as a Engine Attendant and later as a Carman in the Lethbridge Mechanical Department, and then for my last few years, I was the Co-Chair of the Mechanical Department Safety Committee (overseeing safe operations, like in this Safety Video).
My work with the Safety Committee included writing Job Safety Analysis to establish safe work practices, as well as accident and incident investigations, such as at derailments - a dramatic picture like this one above of a derailed locomotive}

In between my years with the Railway, I studied art at the University of Lethbridge from 1977 to 1982.

_{University of Lethbridge Art Department. When I first began my studies, the Art Department was still sharing space in the Physical Education Field House. This picture was actually taken during a return visit in 2016.
It was in my last year 1981/ 82 that we moved to this new building.}

_{my graduation picture . 1982}

In Canada, I got married for the second time. My wife was Mary-Jane, a full-blooded Cree Native. We stayed together for over 15 years. We split up in 1988, and tragically I found out only months later from my son, she passed away in 2009.

_{Just married, Mary-Jane and Otto
my eldest son Jason and I in Venice}

_{Mary-Jane

many years later, my son Jason,
the band he is still with is "Wormbox" ►}

_{About 1969 when I met Mary-Jane - here on the Reservation in Hobbema} Otto Rapp

_{Here I am with my son Jason at our home in Lethbridge. Hard to believe he would grow up to become a heavy metal guitarist} Otto Rapp

_{It took more than 10 years before I returned for a visit to Austria, Since then, we visited Austria several times - here is Mary-Jane and son Jason at the Hochosterwitz in Carinthia}

_{I had put Mary-Jane in this painting (bottom right)
Quiet Afternoon At The Studio - 1976}

Following the divorce, and later after a disastrous third marriage that lasted 3 years too long, I stayed single for a while. In that time, I also visited Hawaii several times, and bevor getting married again, here are some photos - the last one from 1995:

_{Hawaii - 1993
both my older and my younger sons resemble me a lot, such as in this picture.} I had some great times in Hawaii, unfortunately most of the analog photos are lost. They were scanned and on an external hard drive, but it crashed.

_{Hawaii - 1995}

The next Chapter - my fourth marriage

It was around 1995, after returning from Hawaii, that I met Christan. At that time I didn't think it would last very long, dating off and on, but eventually we stuck together. It was to last for 15 years until we separated in 2009. We are still in frequent contact with one another, more like friends now than partners.

_{Christan at Park Lake near Lethbridge, 2007}

_{Christan and Newborn Otti}

_{this photo is from the time when I first met Christan, around 1996}

Christan and Otti in Vienna

_{Christan and son Otti in Vienna at the Burggarten.}

Returning to Austria

After my mother passed away in 2010, I went to the funeral in February. I inherited her apartment, then returned with my son Otti for the Summer, staying 3 months. Returning to Canada again I asked myself: 'why am I freezing my nuts off in this harsh Canadian Winter?' After all, I spent the better part of 40 years working for the Railway, frequently outside at sometimes brutal temperatures. I retired in 2006, and separated from Christan in 2009, so there was no reason for me anymore to stay. Subsequently I moved permanently to Vienna in 2011. My son did not want to come with me that time, so he stayed behind with Christan.

In Vienna, I rented studio space at the Palais Palffy - where Ernst Fuchs also had a studio. We met often there as well as downstairs at the cafe.

^{This was at a birthday party for Ernst Fuchs at the Cafe Palffy}

I made many friends and new connections here in Vienna, and became also very busy creating art. This time here is probably the best time I had for a long time. I always missed Vienna, and now that I am here, I know that there was always something missing all these years. My roots are here - and I had always retained my Austrian citizenship because I felt that eventually, I would come back.

_{Too many memories to post here - this is a Solo Exhibition organized by Anni Fuchs}

_{.... and here at Caroline Schell's 30th birthday party.}

Return Visit to Canada 2016

_{Christan, Otti, Isabella the dog and myself}

_{Family Reunion: Christan, my older son Jason , with my grandson and Granddaughter at the park near my house in Lethbridge. My son Otti is taking the photo.}

ABOUT MY WORK

I had posted about my work some seven months ago - click below ▼ to check that post.