Under the motto Remix & Fusion, 17 artists from Hamburg and the surrounding area will be presenting two of their works each in the GRACE DENKER GALLERY from September 7th, 2018, thus providing an insight into their creative work and making people curious to find out more. The different approaches, ideas and concepts create a special, inspiring experience.
In the following article, get to know the exhibitors better and gain an insight into their artistic work and artistic concepts. The exhibitors answer questions about their artistic process, how they start and what materials they use. They also explain what influence their art can have on the world.
In part 1, Sabine Beisert, Nadine Regling, Stefan Heyer, Silke Kampfmeier, Natascha Maas, Melanie Pick, Suzan Leisering and Wiebke Gärtner comment.
Sabine Beisert
I encounter a blank canvas with great joy, and an almost irresistible urge to work on it arises. My artistic concept sometimes consists of a rough idea or a chosen technique that develops in the process, but often also of a freestyle that develops into the finished work in various processing phases, completely intuitively and depending on the material and tools. I do not follow a set line. My materials cover a wide spectrum... Acrylic is always there. I also like to work with other media, intuitively and experimentally, such as ink, pastels and oil crayons, structures, lye, paper and prints (...to name just a small selection) with different tools and different techniques. The focus is on experimentation. The variety of materials used supports the multifacetedness and gives power to expression. My wish is to stimulate the viewer's imagination with my works, to trigger positive feelings and to cast a spell over them.... Some of my pictures with a quiet background, relating to daily life and togetherness.
Nadine Regling
My motto is: "Art cannot be described, it must be experienced." This is also how my creative process works. A blank canvas is falling in love again and again. Passion, excitement, tingling. Because I know that I don't know anything yet. My inner life - it dances with colors and shapes. Every time anew.
I mainly paint with acrylics. But sometimes I have to use my children's paint box. The colors find me and not the other way around. I don't have a set process or plan. My mood dictates my actions. That's why I never know which colors I want to use today or tomorrow. For example, I make my own structure paste. Our world is dominated by negative news and I collect these newspaper articles, let them soak and combine them with glue, water and salt. I then use this as a primer and give my canvas a new structure. Knowing that something new and positive will soon emerge from it gives each picture a different dynamic for me personally. It shows me that something beautiful can emerge from everything negative."
If I reach just one person and trigger some feeling in them, then that is what makes me happy. I don't paint for the world. I paint out of love. For myself.
Stefan Heyer
I am searching for a new beauty in the field of tension between my experience of reality, political interests, history, pop culture, experiences and observations. I have a very precise idea of what is approximate. In my opinion, a work of art should not sit too comfortably and venture into the area that can only be inadequately described with words. If everything is immediately clear and the message screams at you, it is boring. I don't like purely emotional painting either. I can only speak for myself, but a picture is good when my energetic state has condensed the levels described above in such a way that it gets to the point and I was able to channel exactly that. It is always a mix of the unconscious and the conscious. Letting go and capturing yourself. The process cannot be planned, you have to accept the unexpected, accept the risk of failure in front of the picture. Only in a state of maximum tension - like a trance - do I reach this level. I am not an artist who has to go into a studio every day and then move paint from left to right. My creative process always begins with the conscious placement of a photo/several photos (the analogue photo transfer described above). After that, I switch off my brain and let the subconscious flow out, the accumulated energy. It is difficult to describe, but essential. From then on, I condense, place areas, symbols, words, cover (white is super important for me), continue working in the wet paint, etc. I try to work as minimally as possible and not paint the surface to death. It is a difficult balancing act and is what makes a new picture so appealing.
They obviously play a big role. I've tried and rejected a lot of things. About 4 years ago I noticed that my analogue photo transfer works best on wood, but it's still prone to errors, which I like. Always according to the motto: accept the unpredictable and imperfect. This hard, indestructible surface is also just right for my drawings and surfaces with all kinds of pens and chalks. Recently I've started using acrylic as well as oil, which has a completely different appeal. As in real life: I think it's important to leave your comfort zone more often and go out in the boat until you can no longer see the safe shore. For the near future I'm planning to do pictures in a very large format - on unprimed cotton - but my studio situation doesn't currently allow for this.
Of course I can change the world. Every action I take triggers a reaction/counter-reaction in the universe. Everything is energy. If one of my pictures triggers in the viewer what my favorite artists, my favorite music (24 hours a day!), a certain word (for example by Paul Celan) triggers/triggered in me, then I am absolutely satisfied. If people think my work is great, I am happy. If not, that's OK too. I always try to stay positive with all topics, even difficult ones; I think that's important. But sometimes you have to look into the abyss in order to overcome it.
Silke Kampfmeier
I follow my intuition. I try to free myself from ideas or constraints. Whatever is true will show itself. In this way, I continually create the freedom to simply be, which I then fill with curiosity and openness. The attitude of "trust in the process" accompanies me in this process.
Thanks to my almost 20 years of experience as a media designer, I now approach a blank canvas or blank piece of paper with relative impunity. If the image does not meet my expectations, I leave it there, wait for the moment until the image tells me something again, until I think of something and carry on, or paint everything white and start again in front of a blank canvas. In my case, more like a white wooden panel.
The first moment you apply paint is usually a very exciting one. What will happen next? What will the result look like? How long will it take? Can I get involved? Will it be a technique I already know, or will it be a completely different movement, technique, or material? And very often it turns out differently than I imagined.
I mainly paint on wooden boards. There are those that I buy in a hardware store and have the material I want cut to the size I want. And then there are the pieces of wood that I find when I'm out walking or cycling. Usually in the waste containers at construction sites. These tell a completely different story. Sometimes the wood has dried out and cracked due to cement or weather. Sometimes paint or pieces of plaster have eaten into the cracked pores, corners have chipped off, nails have rusted.
I use acrylic paint. I usually apply the paint with spatulas of different sizes, which can vary between 3 and 40 cm. My favorite spatula is the standard bricklayer's trowel.
The reaching for the paint, the painting surface, the device with which I apply the paint happens spontaneously and following my inner voice.
I like things to be natural. The next challenge will be to make my own paints and to work as naturally as possible and therefore as environmentally friendly as possible. Otherwise, I would say that wood plays a role in the sense that I like the weight when I lift the finished work of art and at the same time I find the feel that wood brings with it exciting. Warm, fibrous, lively. And not least because of the warm and honey-like scent of the wood. It is also important to me that the picture is allowed to develop, just as the wood base will. The constant possibility of changing my pictures is important to me, as this reflects the process in which life is constantly going. For this reason, I do not use a finish that is intended to preserve the picture.
My wish is that people feel good with my art. That they feel a little better, that they feel seen and understood and that they go about their day with a smile. That, for example, a color combination appeals to them and pleases them, or that a particular line is exactly how they have always wanted it and that they can enjoy its perfection again and again. The bottom line is that I want to use my art to encourage people to make their world a little more beautiful.
Trust your intuition and trust the process.
Natascha Maas
I usually start painting without much of an idea, applying layer after layer of paint. The choice of colors and materials is spontaneous and depends on my mood. I often only make the decision as to whether it will be an abstract or figurative picture during the creative process.
I like working with different materials, but mainly with acrylic paints. They cover well, shine beautifully and intensely and dry quickly. I also use sprays, inks, oil and pastel chalk, and occasionally pastels and monotypes. The interaction is part of my artistic process. I don't follow a set line.
My art is intended to make the world a little more colorful, stimulate the viewer's creativity and leave plenty of room for their own imagination.
Melanie Pick
My artistic process always begins by covering my kitchen with foil and gathering the materials! It has become a ritual. Then I sit down in front of the blank canvas with a coffee and put together some colors. Then I put together a soundtrack to match the colors, each color has its own song! Then I put the first color on the canvas, the first element, and then the picture emerges depending on the color and music, whether it is very straight or flowing shapes. Through my job and studies as a graphic designer, I have learned to form a rough idea of a division in my head while looking at the white surface. And then I just start. I mainly work with acrylic paint, spatula and brush to blend on canvas. For the base coat, I often use cheap acrylic paint. Many pictures are created by painting over them frequently, which often creates interesting structures in the background that you often only see when you look up close. The last layer of paint has to be good, because the cheap ones often look too "dull" and are also harder to work with.
I hope that my art can be a medium of communication, because art has always ensured that cultures can develop and exchange ideas. Through global networking, you can reach other cultures much more quickly, you can get inspiration from all cultures at the same time, and that also brings people together. My message is that people should communicate with each other and exchange ideas, because talking can clear up many misunderstandings and maybe it will help to restore balance to the mood that is currently spreading around the world. And even small voices can make a difference, if there are enough of them.
Suzan Leisering
A new painting never begins with a desired result or a sketch. The process of becoming, the flow, the creation is the discovery of every work. A blank canvas is new happiness, hope and challenge.
I have a basic idea that I follow and composing the picture allows me to become the conductor, but I play much more in the field of infinite possibilities and swim in the color until the flow slows down, the color collects, the picture stands and it is time to start a new work. The results of this work then hang in exhibitions and inspire the viewer. For me as an artist, however, the product is secondary.
I don't look for inspiration "outside", I make it up. My pictures don't reflect my emotions, neither my outside nor my inside. I move around in worlds and explore them. If there's something that inspires me, it's color. Searching for and finding an interesting context between the colors is basically the core of my work. I'm a colorist. "Painting is not about coloring shapes, it's about shaping colors," said Matisse when he made pure color the center of design.
Drawing ink is the perfect medium. You can paint with it, draw with it, direct it and let it direct you. It is alive and self-sufficient, but it is also obedient. The color is a symbol of energy, because I am an energy researcher. I move back and forth between form and formlessness. Actually, everything is one: the threads and puddles, ink lakes and ponds are symbols of the all-creating power, which is itself invisible but takes form. On my canvas, it takes form through strong cattle skulls, mysterious ghost trees, delicate butterfly wings and magnificent desert flowers.
When the ink forms an alliance with the water, life is a dance, a sublime vibration frequency. My work symbolizes the certainty of the unknown, the flow and the flux. Space and form recognize each other and become one.
I invite colors and shapes to play and dance with each other. This dance of colors is metaphorical for the inner relationship between matter and formless consciousness. Just as the unmanifest cannot be made into an object of knowledge, my work is not a description of it either.
Rather than explaining it, I try to give this imperishable life energy a symbol in the world of forms. With my work we receive an invitation to expand our imagination, an encouragement to question what is known and to take a step from the familiar dimensions of straight lines and cubes into the universe of infinite possibilities. My images speak to our unlimited consciousness and transcend the limitations of our rationality.
When I paint, I am the best version of myself. When I paint, I don't add anything or pretend to be someone else. I am authentic, at my most content and living my truth, my very personal, individual expression. I feel comfortable in my own skin, brave, strong and whole.
Even in moments when nothing special is achieved or I am unable to create unity on the canvas and have to keep trying until the communication with the image works, there is a feeling of harmony, of feeling connected.
This harmony is always raw and never watered down. There is no rose-tinted filter. I stop trying to find satisfaction in external things and it feels great to be anchored in the moment, in just being. The studio is a holistic place for me.
I am convinced that each and every one of us brings a gift with us. It is our task to share this gift with others. Putting ourselves at the service of others with our gift seems to me to be the most meaningful thing of all. Where we find our joy, we also serve others. When we live our joy, we share our light.
I am fascinated by the idea of freedom, through which each of us can live our unique gift. We have to allow ourselves to do so.
Martha Graham, innovator of modern dance, sums it up for me:
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a refreshment that is translated into action through you, and because you are unique, that expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your job to determine how good it is, nor how valuable, nor how it compares to other expressions. It is your job to keep it clear and direct, to keep the channel open. You don't even have to believe in yourself or in your work. You have to keep yourself open and be aware of the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open."
Wiebke Gärtner
At the beginning there is my fascination with human bodies and motifs, and I often start with self-portrait photography. In the process of painting, I get closer to the hidden and the original behind the visible motif.
My preferred medium is watercolor on paper. The life of the colors leaves room for unforeseen discoveries while painting, so that the design of the motif can develop in the process.
For me, painting is a form of meditation. The non-intentional message is a form of self-expression that can stand alone or be shared with others.
Read more answers in Part 2.