An intriguing and surreal acrylic painting on canvas titled "Study for Library" by Michigan artist Hartmut Austen. Signed, titled, and dated 2000 on the verso. Black and white expressive figures are seated in a library with floating blocks of orange geometric rectangular squares. Dimensions: 42"h x 60"w x 1.5"d (framed). In very good condition. Hartut Austen was awarded the 2009 Visual Arts Fellow through the Kresge Arts Foundation in Detroit. Hartmut Austen was born and raised in Germany. During the 1990s, he studied painting and drawing at Hochschule der Künste (University of the Arts) in Berlin. His paintings and drawings have most recently been shown at Galerie Eva Bracke in Berlin, Galerie Lisi Hämmerle in Bregenz, Paul Kotula Projects in Ferndale, MI and at the Kresge Art Museum in East Lansing, MI. He is a member of the artist collective, Telegraph. Together with Lynn Crawford, he edited Detroit: Telegraph, a literary and visual arts journal published by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. He lives with his wife and son in Rochester Hills, MI.