three versions
As most of you already know, I am working on a series in which my thoughts and reflections on Covid-19 will be portrayed and which I will be exhibiting next year.
When I started to play with this thought, a few questions quickly arose: in which style, with which techniques, etc. As for the style, it quickly became clear to me that I would only approach this subject by using a semi-abstract form. As for the technique, I developed a completely new one, which I have adapted to my needs and which I am trying to improve step by step.
First I made some drafts and presented them in a blog post. Some of you were so friendly and shared points of view with me, which was very helpful to me and I would like to thank you again for that. [drafts for corona series]
Graphing the phenomenon of Covid-19 is a difficult undertaking in several respects, whereby the most important questions for me are:
How do I make the invisible visible? How do I create a predominantly abstract image in such a way that the underlying phenomenon can be recognized? But above all, how do I convey the areas of feelings such as fear, insecurity, restriction, isolation, communication breakdown, dealing with something that goes beyond our limits of imagination up to dealing with people close to me in death.
A semi-abstract approach also seemed to be the most suitable as it enables me to integrate the abstract element Covid-19 in very realistic scenarios. Sometimes these look almost like photos – and we generally believe in photos.
After I focused on the big landscape in the previous series, the sky, the mountains, and the water, I presented another work last week, a painting devoted to the forest. Just as the forest can of course be understood as a metaphor, so can my new topic, the sea, be understood as a metaphor. Maybe even more.
version 1
My first attempt was a lot of fun while painting. On the one hand, the picture is a daring composition, but on the other hand with a fairly big idea and has some visual strength. When I finished my work in the early hours of the morning and washed out the brushes, I had the satisfaction of having painted a good picture. But the very next morning I realized that I had missed my initial goal.
The original aim was to transfer that thought from the forest theme to the sea. In the forest, it was the alluring, the mysterious micro world, the inviting light – and the barrier. Now it had become an image that focuses on the sea but is far too optimistic and the barrier is not optimal. But other aspects turned out well.
version 2
So I started another attempt in which the sea is only hinted at, but a strongly accented barrier, a NO GO sign, dominates. An attempt in which the sea is basically only hinted at, but a strongly accentuated NO GO dominates. I was also quite satisfied with this picture since I included an element that played a role in my deliberations from the beginning, but which I had pushed aside as too unworthy. Namely bringing a bat into play. Very abstract and stylized you can now guess a “bat-feeling” in this NO GO.
version 3
Then I thought that the picture might be too bold on the one hand, and on the other hand, it gives the viewers too little opportunity to develop their own ideas and I painted version 3. One can perhaps see these versions as too pessimistic. I am aware that many consider the corona crisis to be over. Last but not least, the share prices on the stock exchanges reflect this optimism. Personally, I am tending in a completely different direction and think some might be surprised how the situation will look after the holidays. But I’m neither a virologist nor a doctor, so it’s just one opinion among many. However, what I wanted to express is the underlying fear that can also plague people who are already studying the holiday catalogs again.
Unfortunately, I don’t know much about poetry, my last poem broke in elementary school, still, the following lines came to my mind:
Such a longing for the sea
Don’t even think about it
I’ve already painted it out clearly in my head
Don’t even think about it
And now it’s at my fingertips
Don’t even think about it
More such works: HERE
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