Visual Art | Natural Science
Denise Schellmann lives and works in Vienna. Drawing is her medium, microscopy her point of departure.
Schellmann trained as a pharmaceutical chemist. A diploma in pharmacy (1999–2006) was followed by a doctorate in the natural sciences at the University of Vienna (2006–2010).
She turned to art in 2008. From 2012 to 2014 Loys Egg mentored her in fine art. In 2019 she completed the Master Art & Science under Virgil Widrich at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, with a thesis realised in collaboration with CERN.
Her work has been shown internationally, including at the Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair in New York, at CERN in Geneva and in Singapore.
Photo: Petra Rautenstrauch
As a pharmaceutical chemist I intervened in the microcosm, in molecules and living matter. Today, as an artist, I intervene in that same dimension and draw from it a visual language of my own.
Life asserts its form between order and chaos. That is where I begin. What is visible in the microscope for a moment, I translate into point, line and plane, unplanned and never corrected.
On the exhibition „Fragments of a Microcosm", Simon Rees wrote: „She reveals the inner life of what to us looks clear and clean."
CV
Education
- 2014–2019 Master Art & Science (Virgil Widrich), University of Applied Arts Vienna; thesis in collaboration with CERN
- 2012–2014 Private studies with Loys Egg, fine art
- 2006–2010 PhD in natural sciences, medicinal/pharmaceutical chemistry, University of Vienna
- 1999–2006 Diploma in pharmacy, University of Vienna
Solo Exhibitions (selected)
- 2026 „Fragments of a Microcosm", Viadukt Screen Prints, Vienna
- 2024 „Between particles", Bf2, Vienna
- 2020 „ZWISCHENRÄUME", Galerie Michaela Stock, Vienna
- 2015 „The Essential Rhythm", INSTINC Artspace, Singapore
Group Exhibitions (selected)
- 2024 „The Window and the Couch", 74tharts, curated by Simon Rees, WestSpace, Vienna
- 2023 „HUMAN_NATURE", Künstlerhaus, Vienna
- 2021 „The apocalypse of the white elephant", Comenduirea Garnizoanei, Timișoara
- 2020 „14 DAYS stay home notice", INSTINC space, Singapore
- 2019 „Origin Poetics", Art@CMS, CERN, Geneva
- 2019 „Origin Poetics", Art@CMS, KASK, Ghent
- 2017 „Circuit Training" (LHC), Angewandte / CERN (Art@CMS & HEPHY), das weisse Haus, Vienna
Art Fairs
- 2026 Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair, Powerhouse Arts, New York
- 2025 PARALLEL Vienna
- 2015 Affordable Art Fair, F1 Pit Building, Singapore
Grants and Nominations
- 2020 Work grant, City of Vienna
- 2018 Sepp Schellhorn Grant, Artist in Residence Seehof Goldegg
- 2016 Kapsch Contemporary Art Prize, nomination
- 2015 Auslandskultur Lower Austria, INSTINC AIR, Singapore
Artist Residencies
- 2025–2026 AIR Viadukt Screenprints, Vienna
- 2018 Sepp Schellhorn Grant, der Seehof, Goldegg
- 2015 INSTINC AIR, Singapore
Film: „The Arscientic Andism – my romantic manifesto" (2020, short film, 17 min)
- Awards: Under The Radar Festival Vienna 2023 (Audience Award); Mediterranean Film Festival Cannes 2020 (Best First Time Filmmaker); Polish International Film Festival Warsaw 2020 (Best Experimental)
- Nomination: Top Indie Film Awards Tokyo 2021 (Best Experimental, Best Editing, Best Original Idea, Best Message)
- Official Selections: In The Palace Sofia 2021; Jaipur International 2021; Near Nazareth 2020; Open Window Kolkata 2020
