Under the exhibition title Silent Perceptions, 18 artists from all over Germany will be presenting two of their works each in the GRACE DENKER GALLERY from February 1, 2019, giving visitors and art lovers an insight into their creative work and making them curious to find out more.
The different approaches, ideas and concepts come together and create the opportunity to view the works in their individual essence as well as to perceive them collectively.
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.
Part 1 features comments from Agnes Wieser, Nikola Struck, Claire Marin, Detlev Hummelt, Phil Walter, Barbara Missler, Ewa Martens, Maria Loos and Peter Kaden.
Agnes Wieser
Art is created by "doing". It is important that certain prerequisites such as techniques and a lot of practice are already in place. Only then does it make sense to let yourself be guided by inspiration and to create something through "doing" or a hand movement that you can later call art. This starts a process in which the feeling (what is in your gut) and the idea (that you have decided on in your head) mix wonderfully. The feeling or instinct is the compass that determines what the journey looks like. The associated idea or goal is never static/rigid - only at the end of a work can you see where you have arrived. I choose my motifs based on what appeals to me at the time. Most of the time they are people. The "end product", however, is not worked out in every detail. Sometimes I start with a preliminary sketch, which is usually not implemented one-to-one. It serves more as an introduction to the painting process. Because I prime my canvases beforehand (sometimes colorful, sometimes plain, sometimes with patterns), I can choose the most suitable one depending on the motif. It doesn't matter whether the primer is still visible at the end.
At the moment I work mainly with acrylic paints on canvas. The advantage of these paints for me is that they are quick to work with and dry. You can use these properties to bring dynamism into the picture and to work with "swing". A picture is created quickly and therefore has a certain spontaneity to it. However, I am also attracted to other materials such as wood as a painting surface or oil paints. For me, art does not always have to happen quickly. Depending on how you feel and the subject, a work of art can and should require a longer period of dedication. But everything in its own time.
In my opinion, art should inspire, appeal, make you think and/or be aesthetic. Sometimes all of these things at once - but a work of art does not necessarily have to meet all of these criteria at the same time. For me, my art is successful when I reach at least one viewer with one of these points. Whose gaze is caught and "something" is triggered in them. For example, a feeling, a mood or the discovery of parallels to oneself.
You can't just pin art down to ONE message. Just as there are different people with different issues, depending on their life situation, mood, age, etc., art can also be diverse and always different. What's important to me is to touch people with my art and give them something that they don't get in everyday life.
Nikola Struck
My idea of art is actually that I don't really have an idea before I start my picture. I paint according to my feelings and let my thoughts guide me as I create. For me, 'the journey is the destination', so to speak. Colors and motifs are formed by my mood at the moment. I often put on headphones - the music determines the choice of colors and technique. Experiences and sights from everyday life also appear in my abstract works.
From the beginning, acrylic painting - whether on canvas or wood - was the right art form for me.
With my pictures I want to convey joy of life, stimulate the imagination and encourage thought games. The works offer space for individual interpretation.
Claire Marin
The central theme of my artistic work is silence - I approach it through a variety of questions and in different ways. What interests me most at the moment is how silence can offer a safe space in a world that is becoming increasingly noisy. What happens when you dare to be quiet? Does that bring us closer to ourselves or does it make alienation more noticeable?
The blank sheet of paper, the blank canvas - for me these are places that bring silence with them. My job as an artist is to make this silence visible and thus visually perceptible. And here too, less is often more.
I love oil paint, but I also like to work with acrylic, ink or, in a very purist way, charcoal on paper. For me, it is a question of mood on the one hand, but of course also depends on the work that I want to create. There are works that need a large canvas to spread out. Others unfold best on paper. A lot of things also develop from sketches that I make beforehand. Testing different formats and materials shows what works best.
If I can use my art to make people pause - even if it's just for a moment - then I've already achieved my goal. In my opinion, art is there to ask questions and encourage people to ask more questions.
Recently, someone told me that he had sat in front of one of my paintings for a long time at an exhibition and noticed that he had become completely calm while looking at it. That hadn't happened to him for many years.
For me, this was wonderful feedback, because that is exactly what I am concerned with: bringing silence into the inner and outer space so that the really important questions that have been lost in the noise of everyday life can find their way back to the surface. Of course, everyone can then listen and find answers for themselves.
Detlev Hummelt
My paintings are a spontaneous expression of intensely experienced nature. They follow the model of a painting that moves freely between figurative and abstract features. The rhythmic painting movements make the picture space appear as a moving surface. Nature reveals itself as an atmospheric event in an archaic and primal state.
The starting point of a canvas work is often a diffuse landscape image that only becomes more concentrated as the painting progresses. However, without making any concrete statements about actual locations. Even a horizon is often not discernible. The flower fragments scattered throughout do not correspond to real flowers. In the end, all that remains is the mood of a landscape, without its real, recognizable equivalent.
Acrylic paints are used, which are layered on top of each other in diluted glazes until the canvas has achieved the most dynamic surface possible. The landscape painting should appear flowing, rhythmic and scattered.
There are no socially relevant considerations behind these images. Aesthetic motifs are developed in my paintings. Images are sensual, make you think, amaze or frighten you. Nothing more.
Phil Walter
Letting go, unlimited possibilities for expression and escaping from the drudgery of everyday life are what I associate with art. I use it primarily to transform impressions into expressions and to treat myself. If other people enjoy it, that is of course very satisfying, but it is not the main focus.
The process of creation generally depends on which of my multiple personalities wants to be creative. It is not uncommon for a lot of work and planning to go into the preparation. Sometimes several hours of brainstorming, research, photo shoots, etc. have to pass before I start a work. But there are also moments that are quickly captured, which later become a painting. Then I place value on composition, depth, and character. I have never been a fan of traced contours; portraits in particular, of the figure or landscapes, for example, are given a lot of personality through your own observation.
My preference is for oil painting. For me it is the most versatile medium, allowing me to use a wide range of techniques. I use the slow drying time to my advantage to achieve smooth transitions and loose curves. I mainly use brushes to apply the paint, but also occasionally use a spatula to emphasize texture. Otherwise I like to use pencils and charcoal for a change. I still like the mix between polishing some details and rough hints of a sketch.
I would like my art to inspire, just like I am inspired by other artists. Without inspiration, nothing works - no drive, no desire, no goals. Because I am self-taught and my approach is rather unconventional, I believe even more that people will recognize something intuitive in my work rather than a learned structure. I think that this creates a bond between the work and the viewer.
I would be happy if the tradition of painting was preserved in the future and not too much emphasis was placed on the image of the artist. If a painting appeals to me, it is not because I know the person behind it, but because I first perceive the aesthetics of the art.
Barbara Missler
My works are a subjectively perceived image of reality. Moods of light and color influence my works as much as everyday events and news from all over the world.
I don’t commit myself to a specific material, but rather try out what best supports the respective topic.
Painting is an end in itself. It's fun! Nevertheless, I am happy when I can sharpen the viewer's sense of the special in everyday life, make them aware of their experiences and encourage them to think.
Ewa Martens
First and foremost, my concept is not to have a concept. My works must come entirely from myself, the brush or sponge must be just an extension of my arm. For me, art is a way of expressing my thoughts and feelings in colors and shapes. Therefore, I see it as an immediate and direct way of processing my sensory impressions. While I work, I can let go, block out everything else and rest within myself.
My artistic process begins with a blank canvas and then it just happens. I intuitively grab the materials and let the picture emerge in the process. Sometimes I have an idea of where the journey might lead, but often this idea only arises while I am working. The start of a new work is often very emotional for me, as I don't always know what thoughts/feelings the work will evoke, but I am always curious and look forward to the process. A quote from Franz Marc sums it up well: "Painting is arriving at another place" - when I leave this place again, I feel in harmony with myself and complete.
The materials I work with are very different in all sorts of ways. For abstract works, I mostly use acrylic paint, then there are various structural pastes, sand, fabrics, different grains and many other materials. Here, too, a lot depends on my intuition, but also on the effects of the different materials. Do I want to create a relief, or maybe work with materials that have a certain connotation? Do colors and materials make sense to me together? These are the questions I ask myself while I work and which are also important after completion. The painting should be coherent; the different materials can create credibility depending on the application and viewer and provide a contrast to the color and the canvas.
Since my works are rarely representational, they do not have a political statement or a meaningful second level at first glance. But that does not mean that I deny them the influence they can have on viewers or on me. For me, the focus is on calm and thoughtfulness, on contemplation of the essential. The strong colors and often dynamic compositions free me from rigid structures during the process, guide me into new perspectives and open my eyes to the unseen. I hope that this development will also be initiated in some viewers. Being open to new things and not being
Closing oneself off to the unknown out of fear of unpredictability is essential to my work. I therefore hope to be able to show viewers the power that can lie in the new and unpredictable.
Maria Loos
For me, art is above all a way of communicating with myself. Freud would definitely think my pictures were great, but it's not meant to be as meaningful as that sounds. Everything I put on canvas reflects a part of my soul. But not every part of my soul is heavy and meaningful. Sometimes I just think of pizza and German rap when I paint.
I like working with acrylic paint and canvas. To be honest, at the beginning it just felt right and I had no idea why I liked this particular combination of materials. I just liked the dried, hard, brittle paint and the structure that can be created through it.
I live in a world where I often cannot find the words to express what moves me. Then I remain silent and paint. My pictures say what I cannot say in any other way. And they say what every single person sees in them. I never explain my pictures because they are meant to be a place of refuge, a place of reflection, for people who, like me, are often speechless.
Peter Kaden
The portrait is at the heart of my work. Of all the subjects that are to be painted, it has the greatest power to capture and enchant. I think it will outlast many disciplines and remain relevant regardless of the technique. In my style of figurative painting, I look for subjective perspectives in understanding people and their experience of the world. This is always in focus and separated from the background. This often remains deliberately hidden. After all, the western world claims that a person's origins are irrelevant, only their personality counts, and this is what is represented here.
I like to give my two cents and where I often offend people verbally, I find painting to be a more precise language. Because of its absoluteness, it is better able to express abstract facts and attitudes in a concrete way. When I have found the relevant, sometimes allegorical moment, I start the actual work on a picture. One topic takes years to capture, with another it jumps out at you straight onto the paper. If I can get to know the person myself, it usually goes quickly.
For studies, I like to work with acrylic paints and watercolor pencils on open cardboard. In studies or small formats, I sometimes go into more detail, move closer together or find interesting cuts.
Pictures are created in oil and with the addition of lacquer and varnish on wood or canvas. I love doing things that a pure technician would rather deny and I like to look for surprises in my handwriting. But the origins of my painting technique actually lie in the classic layered painting of the old masters, which I learned quite early on. But there is photography and that is why hyperrealism and eyewash are now more of a short-lived joke and not a goal of my painting.
As a trained designer, I solve a problem with the appropriate materials and when I feel like it, I make a sculpture, do a screen print or clarify an impossible perspective in a 3D program. As a painter and artist of this time, you shouldn't be afraid to use all materials and possibilities to get to the "right" picture. However, in my painting, the idea behind the picture is far more important than the material or the perfection of the execution.
Every form of action has the potential to influence the world. Images are charged with actions. They can be monolithic messages outside of time and, with luck and skill, can be understood in any century. And when the right image hits its recipient, it can have a major impact on him and the world. And every form of art is an attempt to communicate.
My paintings also want to communicate, looking for the special in the everyday, the characteristic in the essence and also the humor in the supposedly humorless. I am always for the non-trend, the outsider, the inevitable.
For me, the canvas is both a stage and a ring. A stage because symbols and moments, which are usually subsequently exaggerated and/or alienated, are rehearsed on the canvas until they become independent works. And a ring because it is a way of letting off steam in the studio. A battle within the self. The work on the pictures is never over even after leaving the studio, but rather a constant emotional debate. If a solution is found, there is often consolation and a peculiar truth in the finished paintings.
There are also these unpainted areas, traces and moments that you know very differently than someone who looks at the finished picture. Figures and connections that are not there but are created remain noticeable. Together with all these elements you create your own universe, a certain view of things in which social issues merge with completely subjective and biographical facts. Being able to present these ideas to someone and the imperceptible nod and smile of the person who has understood a picture for themselves brings me the greatest joy.
Read about 9 more artists in part 2.
Duration: 01.02.2019 to 26.04.2019
Location: GRACE DENKER GALLERY, Hammerbrookstraße 93, 20097 Hamburg.
Vernissage: 01.02.2019 at 18:00
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