Photo by Martin Schönbauer
Tom Lohner, an energetic and award-winning Austrian artist and rising star in the art world, famous for his imaginative depiction of pop culture, believes that the single most important ingredient in any artistic process is passion.
Highlights:
2025 // Art - installation present between Austria and Osaka/Japan on behalf of the country in the Austria Pavilion at World Expo 25 (Osaka)
2025 // Tom Lohner signature Swiss Army Knife
2023 and 2025 // art BMW collaboration (Reiterer)
2023 // 1st grand retrospective in Bakerhouse Gallery
2023 // Tom Lohner Almdudler (bottle) Art Edition
2023 // Tom Lohner Bombay Saphire Art Edition
2021 // participation at World Expo 21 Dubai
2021 // solo exhibition in the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art - Vienna
2021 // art project with Hollywood star Dan Aykroyd (and 2024)
2019/2022 // Tram design for Austria‘s largest newspaper Kronen Zeitung (and new since 10/2022)
2020 // mural in Vienna in cooperation with Actress Rose McGowan
2017 // art collaboration/exhibitions with Hard Rock Cafe International
The full Story:
*Tom Lohner* (born 1982 in Bruck an der Mur, Austria) is an energetic and award‑winning Austrian artist renowned for his imaginative portrayals of pop culture and his conviction that passion is the most essential ingredient in any creative process.
Raised briefly in Gainesville, Florida, before returning to Graz, Lohner studied graphic design at Ortweinschule Graz and later with Judith Jay in Monterey, California. He worked in commercial design for high‑profile clients before committing fully to his art in 2015.
His breakthrough came with the sold‑out solo show “H’Animalism” in Vienna, launching a prolific career of solo and group exhibitions across Europe, Asia, and the U.S., including the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna, Art Expo New York, World Art Dubai, and Tokyo’s Stoique Gallery.
Lohner’s major commercial projects include commissioned work for Almdudler, Hard Rock Cafe, Strongbow, Crystal Head Vodka, BMW (Europe-wide collaboration), Jaguar Austria, and bottle and visual editions for Almdudler and Bombay Sapphire.
Awards include 2022 - Entertainer of the year (Kleine Zeitung), the 2018 Graz “Tuntenball‑Award” (Goldene Panthera) for exceptional engagement with the LGBTQ community, a 2020 Out‑of‑Home Advertising Award for the Kronen Zeitung art tram, and his entry into Graz’s Golden Book in 2021.
Lohner co‑founded the *Bakerhouse Gallery* in Graz in 2017, which moved in 2019 into a 1.200 m² former industrial hall - now the largest gallery in Styria - expanded to Berlin in 2020 and to Klagenfurt in 2024.
Recent highlights: representing Austria at *World Expo 25* in Osaka with a major art installation; releasing a signature Swiss Army knife design (2025); a grand retrospective in Bakerhouse Gallery (2023); and brand art editions for BMW, Almdudler, and Bombay Sapphire (2023/2025).
Style:
Where passion pulls – follow. Never question this – it may be the only chance in your life to be truly alive, the artist claims.
Lohner’s painting style is a refreshing combination of the traditional medium of acrylic colors and futuristic aesthetics, achieved by a certain cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic twist. The artist doesn’t shy from neon colors or well as earthy tones, such as electric blues and violets, paired with appealing geometrical patterns, which are basically made to be worn by movie stars. Lohner considers it a mighty mix of Walt Disney’s and Tim Burton’s characters along with Quentin Tarantino’s suspension of telling stories. The additional magic ingredient that binds everything together is powerful post-industrial music movement.
clients: David Alaba, Dan Aykroyd, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hard Rock Cafe, BMW, Almdudler, Jaegermeister, Crystal Head Vodka, Jaguar Austria, Andreas Gabalier, Sting, Marcel Hirscher, Sonja Kirchberger, Shirley Manson, Keith Caputo and Joey Zampella of Life Of Agony, Michael Gregoritsch and Petula Clark
collections: Osaka Geidai University of Arts in Japan, the Museum Joanneum, Bank Austria, Steiermaerkische Bank, Energie Steiermark, the city of Graz and the chamber of Commerce Austria.
Facts:
birth name: Thomas Lohner
born: 04.08.1982 in Bruck a.d. Mur / Austria, grew up: partly in Gainesville / Florida
student in Monterey, CA: 1999
Ortwein College Art & Design, Graz Austria, 2005 - 2008
Art Director at CC-Lab (event & production agency): 2010 - 2013
Co-founder of design studio LosLohBros and the lost kids: 2011 - 2014
working as a professional artist: from 2010, next to being a designer
breakthrough: 2015 onward (with art show H'Animalism)