Homages in Ink Painting and Abstract Art
These homages follow particular encounters with painting, poetry and music. A layered surface, a distinctive use of line or the rhythm of a voice becomes a starting point for another work. The selection brings these references into view through a practice with ink, colour and gestural form.
Western Modernists
The first group considers the structure of an image, the movement of a line and the way colour can establish a setting.
Lyonel Feininger
In Moon Shadow, dark angular forms gather around pale openings and green-blue passages. The reference to Feininger directs attention to the way intersecting shapes construct space and break up the light. View artwork on FriedrichZettl.com ↗
Moon Shadow — geometric ink painting in dialogue with Lyonel Feininger’s construction of space.
Hans Hartung
Dense black strokes cut across a coloured ground, changing direction and thickness as they move. The homage to Hartung centres on this graphic force: the line remains a record of an action while organising the image into distinct areas of tension.
The Blue Rider (Der Blaue Reiter)
Fine vertical marks suggest a stand of trees beneath warm orange-red light. Blue and violet gather lower down, giving the scene its depth. The reference to Der Blaue Reiter places the emphasis on colour’s role in shaping the experience of a landscape.
Sunset in the Woods — ink on xuan paper, responding to the colour of Der Blaue Reiter.
Dialogue with Austria
The following works address two Austrian artists through different uses of layering and graphic structure.
Arnulf Rainer
The three dark fields of the triptych are interrupted by pale gaps and divided by the separate panels. Their accumulated marks bring Rainer’s overpainting into a dialogue with the layered surfaces of these works. Related questions of covering and retaining earlier marks recur in the Painted Calligraphy series.
Maria Tupay
Dark characters lie over an open blue structure of lines and signs. The lower layers remain visible between the heavier strokes. This homage to Maria Tupay develops a relationship between a graphic framework and the less regular movement of the brush.
Chinese Painting and Contemporary Art
Chinese painting and contemporary work with the body provide further points of reference.
Huang Binhong
Dark ink structures a landscape around a broad pale interval of water or open ground. Small trees and boats give the space a scale. The reference to Huang Binhong draws attention to the balance between accumulated dark marks and the passages that remain clear.
Zhang Huan
In this 2020 self-portrait, writing covers a face that remains recognisable within a dark field. The homage to Zhang Huan makes the skin an image-bearing surface, bringing portraiture into contact with the written sign. The work also appears in State of the Art: A Self-Portrait Series.
Poetry and Music
Poetry and music enter the selection through association, rhythm and contrasts of form.
Bertolt Brecht
Two green blossom-like forms, each interrupted by a pointed dark mark, share a pale surface with small scattered traces. Within this homage to Brecht, their differing scale and placement suggest a relationship without fixing it into a narrative scene.
A Chinese ink homage to Bertolt Brecht, with two blossom-like forms sharing an open pale surface.
Amy Winehouse
The homage to Amy Winehouse gathers dark angular gestures, pale blue-white passages and open paper into an unsettled composition. The accompanying image pairs a photograph of the singer with a detail of the work, making the reference explicit while leaving the painted forms open. View artwork on FriedrichZettl.com ↗
Study for a Portrait of Amy Winehouse — an abstract homage in mixed media on Ingres paper.
The Ongoing Dialogue
The references gathered here remain starting points for individual works. Their differences can be followed in the images: a repeated line, a layered field, a written face or a change in the weight of colour.
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