biography

Lukas Fambri (born in Innsbruck, Austria, 1985) is an austrian portraitist, painter and photographer. His affection for art began in the early 2000’s as he was maturing under reclusive conditions arising from an early-onset of mental health problems which severly impacted his ability to participate in day-to-day life. In response Fambri began to self-study and utilize art to cope with, and to mitigate the negative effects of his condition. Over the following years his strong dedication born out of necessaty approach to his craft greatly influenced his development into an gifted artist who prefers to remain outside established rules and conventions.

Throughout the 2000’s he exclusively focused on portrait and figurative drawing, steadely honing his skills in an autodidact fashion, eventually achieving mastery in this field. After nearly 10 years in seclution Fambri began to exhibit across his home state and internationally in the 2010’s which, over time, drew attention to his persona and diverse collection of works he had created in private for over a decade.

Around the same time Fambri discovered his passion for photography which has continuously garnered his interest ever since then. Fambri uses photography mainly as a supporting trait for his other art projects but also produces stand-alone works within the medium, including books and catalogues.

In the late 2010’s Fambri started to explore painting as a new avenue for his artistic work; drawing from long personal expirience he began to focus on the nature of the human psyche and its countless ramifications when burdened by mental illnesses. The most intimate and challenging idea within this new theme: provocation of a particular symptom of his own mental health afflictions – panic attacks – and using the resulting chaotic mental state to create paintings which grant a rare insight into the depths of a troubled mind.

“Ever since his first few exhibitions a couple of years ago Lukas Fambri has become an indispensable term in the local world of art. He is one of the “silent ones” within the artist community, using every free minute to improve his skills. Lukas Fambri occupies himself mainly with works concerning the perception of the human psyche and its psychology whereby he manages to create stunning representations of his perceived reality. The development of mental health issues left the artist isolated for several years, but at the same time they gave him the opportunity to adress himself more to his artistic skills which helped him to teach himself the knowledge and techniques of drawing in an self-educated way. Retrospectively it can be said that this very dispostition has made his remarkable talent intrusively visible.”

Johanna K. Penz, Founder of ART Innsbruck
international fair for contemporary art