The Austrian artist Oskar Stocker (b. 1956) lives and works in Graz. He has become known internationally through the exhibition Facing Nations, which consists of portraits of more than 120 people of various nationalities living in Graz; it was shown first in Graz itself, then in Vienna, and later culminated in 2010 with its display at the UN Headquarters in New York City. He has also regularly painted portraits of the guests of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) TV program erLesen—with well over two hundred of these portraits today. An anniversary publication includes the faces of Peter Handke, Gert Voss, Christine Nöstlinger, Josef Haslinger, Marlene Streeruwitz, Robert Menasse, and Peter Simonischek, to name just a few.
“A century after the crisis of the portrait as an obligatory academic discipline, it will emerge once more as a possible subject,” writes the Cologne art historian and curator Guido Schlimbach in an essay on Stocker’s paintings. Schlimbach goes on: “Meanwhile, portrait painting has become a free form of art without any constraints of use or narcissistic obsession, thus bearing ample testimony to the identity and mood of today’s society. Oskar Stocker is one of its most authentic representatives.”
Awards
2016 Artist in Residence, Istanbul, Turkey
2008 Artist in Residence, Facing Nations, ORF, Vienna
Exhibitions
2024
Oskar Stocker and Luis Rivera, KADDISCH, The Parliament of Austria, Vienna
2022
Mozart & Women, Mozarthaus Vienna
2021
REMEMBER, Tower – Space – Art, St. Peter Art-Station, Cologne, Germany
Oskar Stocker and Luis Rivera, Mobile Prayer House, Graz/Innsbruck, Austria
2019
FACING COLOGNE, St. Agnes, Cologne, Germany
Oskar Stocker / Luis Rivera, MO-ZART, St. Peter Stiftskulinarium, Salzburg, Austria
2018
Oskar Stocker – Innensichten, Castle St. Martin, Graz, Austria
KADDISCH, Kollegienkirche, Salzburg, Austria
Freiheit / Svoboda, Gallery Karlovy Vary, Carlsbad, Czech Republik
Oskar Stocker / Luis Rivera, Silent Heroes, St. Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium
PURE LIFE, Kollegienkirche, Salzburg, Austria
2015
Never Forget – Eingesperrt, Schell Collection, Graz, Austria
Yearning, New York City, USA
Hidden – Verbo(r)gen, Higher Regional Court, Hamm, Germany
2014
Oskar Stocker, Unique – EinzigARTig, Lienz, Austria
Yearning, Washington, D.C., USA
2013
gaia, Art meets Technology, Darmstadt, Germany
Hidden, Cistercian Convent Rein, Styria, Austria
2012
STAGE OF CHANGE, Schell Collection, Graz, Austria
2011
Human Identities – Menschliche Identitäten, Kunstraum Radio, ORF, Vienna, Austria
Yearning, Airport, Graz, Austria
2010
Facing Nations, UN-Headquarters, New York City, USA 
facingnations.com
2009
Facing Nations, Vienna International Centre, Austria facingnations.com
2008
Facing Nations, Fair Graz, ORF Vienna, Austria facingnations.com
2007
Grow East, Congress, Imperial Palace, Vienna, Austria
2004
Oskar Stocker, Painting, Bank of the Diocese Essen, Germany
Works in Public Collections
New Gallery Graz, Museum Joanneum, Graz, Austria
Schell Collection, Graz, Austria
Ev.-Luth. Kirchengemeinde Nienstedten, Hamburg, Germany
Kunststation St. Peter, Cologne, Germany
Schloss Seggau, Fürstenzimmer, Leibnitz, Styria, Austria
St. Peter Stiftskulinarium, Salzburg, Austria
State Gallery of Lower Austria, Krems
MA 48, Vienna, Austria
Mozarthaus, Vienna, Austria
Museum of the Johann Strauss Dynasty, Vienna, Austria
Imperial Palace Collection, Vienna, Austria