Meinrad Mayrhofer (63), the eldest offspring of the Mairhofer-Irrsee artist family from Zell am Moos, has died after a long, serious illness. His suffering sometimes made him feel “as if a tram had run over me,” he once wrote in a Facebook post. Nevertheless, he faced the insidious disease with hope and courage.
Anyone who knew Meinrad knows what the world lost with him. A dear person who looked at his environment critically but always in a friendly manner, always engaging in his tone.
And a great artist. Wood was Mayrhofer’s element: from carving knives to chainsaws, no technology was alien to him. Meinrad Mayrhofer ventured into freelancing early on. With his wife Sabine he founded a family in Pram (Grieskirchen district), about which he once said in an interview: “She is my perfect work of art.” Mayrhofer and his wife had three children.
He once said of the first few years of his freelance work: “I simply took on every job, right down to the stage design for amateur theatre.” To add: “Without Sabine none of this would have happened.”
Meinrad Mayrhofer was a recognized and prolific wood artist. For example, the five-meter-tall wooden nativity figures made of silver fir in the Lignorama wood museum in Riedau come from his hands. But Mayrhofer could also work with other materials. He also painted and drew.
He was also chairman of the Furtmühle Pram, long-standing chairman of the Innviertler artists’ guild and was awarded the title “consultant for art care”.
Although Mayrhofer, apart from a few study trips to neighboring countries, did not get around very much, he was a cosmopolitan who was interested in everything and thought outside the box – including politics and society. He also put some of his critical comments on paper in satirical pen drawings.
Above all, Meinrad Mayrhofer was always kind, humorous and liked people. He will be missed in this world. (Blaichinger)
Source: Nachrichten
