Documentation of my Renderings

The partially covered and hidden figures only reveal themselves to sensitive perception. Their expression is closed; they withdraw from outside glances. They give an impression of isolation and exclusive self-absorption. They reject and seem to attract at the same time. Pictorially, I search for an exciting way to combine drawing, surface and colour. I consciously do not lay in the elements realistically, but let each component resonate independently. In this way, my works break themselves down into fragments. When seen as a whole, a fundamental ambivalence becomes apparent: movement and stillness, clarity and alienation, density and dissolution, exclusion and openness, distance and closeness, chaos and order.

My figures appear to exist in their own reality, one in which neither defined limits nor learned contours exist. They seem to disappear into a world which tells of life, colour and versatility, but one that is not so easily understood by the viewer, leading to confusion. They provoke exploration, because they “live” within structures that are difficult to categorise and are only sensed or seen upon closer and more careful observation. The viewer must allow them in order to recognise them. He must want to find them.

With my images, I want to reveal hidden human—especially female—souls. I wish to experience interpersonal authenticity and sincerity during the creative process. I want to explore, recognise, experience and depict female invisibility, loneliness, and isolation, but also unbowed and independent power. The images are created through an emotional and artistic process of exploration, which, in its initial phase, begins before a live model. Subsequently, the work continues on a fantasised relational level. It corresponds to the search for genuine and relevant human association within a realistic encounter.

The painterly application flows spontaneously as well as from the process. Therefore, I also select my media spontaneously and intuitively. I work with both conventional art supplies as well as everyday objects: wood, construction materials, rubbish, or fragments from my other artworks. In this way, a different perspective is created each time. The absence of a plan generates a working process which alternates between goal orientation and chance.

I try to free myself from common and learned techniques in order to follow an internal rhythm, emotionally driven to the maximum. My work is an exploration through artistic possibilities. It is a search for my own inner truth and the truth of my figures, and ultimately, the relationship between them. Ideally, this results in an organic, moving whole, made from fragments that are a combination of different substrate materials, but also added layers containing various images and techniques. It is through their “history” that the artworks often hold mysteries, some of which unexpectedly reveal themselves again at a later time, while others remain forever hidden.

As they are created, the figures increasingly take on their own special qualities, resulting in a new reality and unique aesthetic. With damaged and buried content, and with traces and scars, there exists a truth that is ultimately more fascinating than a slick, perfect surface. Overall, a complex and mysterious image is developed which resembles the human soul. The journey is a search that begins with a willingness to give in to the spell of the figures and with the courage to approach them. This applies to me and my working process, as well as each individual viewer.