Matthias Laurenz Gräff

Matthias Laurenz Gräff (also known as "Matthias Laurenz Gräff Ilpenstein"; born 19 July 1984) is an Austrian painter. He is also a historian, politician and political activist. Gräff is also chairman of the worldwide family association "Familienverband Gräff-Graeff e.V." and organizer of the poltical Dialog im Kamptal.
Early life and education.
Matthias laurenz Gräff is the son of the artist Helmuth Gräff and the art professor Martina Maria Elisabeth Gräff, daughter of the architect Richard Gach. His paternal ancestors were politically active and religious free thinkers. He studied art at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. He get his master degree in 2008. He lives in Gars am Kamp.
Works.
Gräff paints still lifes, pieces of flowers, interiors, landscapes, architecture, allegories, nudes, compositions. His political paintings are published by national and international books, magazines and blogs.
In 2010 he received the "Adolf Peschek Preis" ("Adolf Peschek Public Award") in the Museum of the City of St. Pölten. In 2012 Gräff created the painting for the vine etiquette of the Red Cross in Lower Austria. In 2013 he and his girlfriend Georgia Kazantzidu organized a concert of the Mojo Blues Band in Gars am Kamp. The same year Gräff created the officiel twin city painting for Gars am Inn (Germany). The same year Matthias Laurenz Gräff became a co-founder and chairman of the worldwide family association "Familienverband Gräff-Graeff e.V.".
In 2014, he received a contract to create three paintings for the vine etiquettes "Garser Wein 2014". A local businessman boycott the publishing of the etiquettes about the illustration of Georgia Kazantzidu as a half naked woman. This led to a little media scandal in Austria.
In 2015 and 2017, Gräff organized artist meetings with Nick Simper and Don Airey, musiciens of Deep Purple in Vienna. In the same year together with Roger Glover he take part at "50 Years Deep Purple. Art and History" at Cologne.
In 2017 he organized a non-profit campaign for people with polyneuropathy (generic term for various diseases of the peripheral nervous system) at WUK Vienna.
Gräff's various painting themes are also used internationally, for example by Asle Toje, a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Politics.
Art and politics.
Matthias Laurenz Gräff has been working on contemporary images of political and social criticism since 2015, which have been published several times in newspapers, blogs and books on national and international politics. Important topics are anti-fascism, socialism, anti-nationalist, pro-European, liberalism and tradition. Gräff deals with national and global issues and personalities. He also deals with socio-political issues and critical processes in Austrian society and politics.
In relation of the 2019 European Parliament election, Gräff created a pro-European painting in collaboration with the Austrian party NEOS.
The "Erich Maria Remarque-Friedenszentrum" (University of Osnabrück) wrote about Gräff: "He consistently represents humanistic, anti-nationalist and pro-European positions both in his art and in various exchange and discussion programs organized by him".
Dialog im Kamptal.
Matthias Laurenz Gräff organizes the non-partisan political and diplomatic platform Dialog im Kamptal ("Dialogue in Kamptal") with Georgia Kazantzidu in his art studio in Gars am Kamp.
Politician.
Matthias Laurenz Gräff has been politically active as a community representative in Gars am Kamp for the liberal NEOS party since 2022. He is also a candidate for the Lower Austrian state elections in 2023, and here as a candidate for the Waldviertel region and as a top candidate for the Horn district.