A curated selection of contemporary ink paintings, gestural abstraction and works on paper by Friedrich Zettl
Featured Artworks presents a curated selection of works from recent years and earlier periods of my artistic practice. At the center of my work is contemporary ink painting—a field in which Chinese brush traditions, gestural abstraction and Western approaches to painting can meet without losing their distinct character.
Many of these works grow out of a long engagement with Chinese painting and calligraphy. Ideas such as Qi (气), the expressive potential of the brush, and the relationship between emptiness and form continue to influence my work, while materials such as ink, pastel, handmade paper and Yupo allow these traditions to develop in new and often unpredictable directions.
The selection ranges from abstract and gestural ink painting to painted calligraphy, landscape-inspired works and more experimental compositions. Some works reflect Daoist or Zen ideas; others emerge from music, nature, travel or personal experience. What connects them is an interest in the moment when a brushstroke becomes more than a mark—when movement, material and imagination begin to create a space of their own.
Each work below offers a point of departure. Follow the links to explore the related series and galleries in the Art Portfolio, or visit my online galleries for works currently available as originals and prints.
Selected Works by Year
The selection below brings together featured works from recent years as well as earlier periods of my artistic practice.
Featured Artworks 2026
Meditation by the Sea
Meditation by the Sea is a contemporary ink painting in which landscape gradually gives way to abstraction. A luminous horizon separates the warm, open sky from the deep blue of the water, while spontaneous black brushstrokes introduce movement and tension into the stillness. Drawing on the spirit of Chinese ink painting and gestural abstraction, the work is less concerned with depicting a particular place than with evoking a state of mind—a moment of openness, movement and quiet contemplation.
And Then It Ends
And Then It Ends explores the fragile boundary between form and dissolution. Two organic shapes emerge from an almost black, void-like space, suspended between appearance and disappearance. Layers of ink, fluid textures and spontaneous gestures create a sense of transformation, while flashes of red, pale blue and green briefly interrupt the darkness. Rooted in contemporary ink art and gestural abstraction, the work reflects on impermanence—the moment when form begins to dissolve and something new may emerge.
The Empty Boat — 虚舟 (Xū Zhōu)
The Empty Boat — 虚舟 (Xū Zhōu) is a contemporary ink painting inspired by the Daoist image of the empty boat—a vessel drifting freely, without intention or destination. A luminous, ambiguous form appears to float above an expansive blue landscape, somewhere between object, cloud and apparition. Fluid ink, gestural brushwork and areas of intense color transform the landscape into an inner space rather than a specific place. The work reflects on emptiness, freedom and the Daoist idea of moving through the world without forcing a predetermined course.
Mountains Swim, Fish Fly
Mountains Swim, Fish Fly is a contemporary ink artwork in which the familiar order of landscape begins to shift. Above, a mountain-like form emerges from sweeping brushstrokes, translucent layers and fragments of ink; below, fish seem to move through a fluid field of color. Yet water, mountain and living form gradually exchange their roles. Drawing on the transformations of classical Chinese landscape painting and the freedom of gestural abstraction, the work imagines a world in which forms are never fixed—mountains may swim, and fish may fly.
Featured Artworks 2025
Oneiric Divide
Oneiric Divide is an abstract surrealist work built around a strong vertical structure that divides the image into two fields. Textured surfaces, dark central forms and sharp accents of red and black create an unstable, dreamlike atmosphere. Calligraphic marks and the use of seals introduce elements drawn from East Asian visual traditions without turning the work into a literal reference to them.
Fractured Eden
Fractured Eden presents a landscape that initially appears vibrant and fertile, but its surface is disrupted by fractured lines and artificial grid-like structures. The contrast between organic color fields and broken geometry creates a tension between growth and decay, suggesting a landscape under pressure rather than an untouched natural world.
abstract surrealism painting “Fractured Eden” – Available as original and print →
Childhood
Childhood uses fragile, translucent forms that resemble jellyfish drifting through darkness. Their delicate appearance is interrupted by sharp abstract fragments that cut across the composition. The work reflects on vulnerability and the loss of innocence, using contrast between softness and rupture rather than direct narrative.
childhood
Meditations on Absence
Meditations on Absence belongs to the Flickers of Being series. Sparse marks, restrained color and large areas of open space create a quiet, highly reduced composition. The work is influenced by the concentrated musical language of Anton Webern, where silence and isolated sounds carry as much weight as the notes themselves.
Meditations on Absence – Available as original and print →
The Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives refers loosely to themes of death, renewal and transformation associated with Easter imagery. Rather than illustrating a biblical scene, the painting translates these ideas into turbulent abstract forms. Dark gestures and unstable spatial relationships create a mood in which renewal remains possible but uncertain.
The Mount of Olives – Available as original and print →
Featured Artworks 2024
Evening, then Night
Evening, then Night explores the transition from waking perception into the world of dreams. Fragmented light forms emerge from a dense green field, creating an ambiguous space between landscape, memory and imagination. The work belongs to a broader exploration of surreal and oneiric imagery.
A Glimpse of Zen
A Glimpse of Zen is part of the Zenimals series. Rather than depicting an animal realistically, the work reduces form to gesture, rhythm and suggestion. Ink and pastel on handmade paper create an image that remains open between figure and abstraction, drawing on Chinese brushwork and the economy of Zen-inspired aesthetics.
Land and Sea
Land and Sea belongs to The Magic Sea project, an ongoing series concerned with environmental transformation. Sweeping bands of yellow, black and turquoise create a dynamic interaction between earth and water. The work treats landscape as a field of unstable forces rather than a fixed view of nature.
Forces of Nature
Forces of Nature continues The Magic Sea project. The composition suggests water advancing into land through overlapping fields of color and energetic gestures. Rather than illustrating a specific environmental event, the painting explores pressure, movement and the imbalance between natural systems.
Forces of Nature – Available as original and print →
Deep Blue Sea
Deep Blue Sea grew out of impressions from snorkeling and diving in Egypt. The painting combines textured marine color, flowing gestures and more clearly defined forms to suggest the depth and instability of an underwater environment. Traditional Chinese calligraphic brushwork influences the movement of the composition without determining its imagery.
Natural Forces
Natural Forces compresses a large spatial idea into a relatively small sheet of paper. Abstraction allows mass, pressure and movement to become the main subject. The work explores how a few concentrated forms can suggest forces that extend far beyond the physical size of the image.
Featured Artworks 2023
Flotsam
Flotsam was inspired by material washed ashore during a visit to Egypt in 2023. Algae, fragments and discarded objects become starting points for a mixed-media composition in which natural and man-made forms merge. The work transforms coastal debris into an ambiguous visual landscape.
Where Spheres Meet
Where Spheres Meet explores the encounter between contrasting spatial and material qualities. Deep blues, sweeping dark forms and luminous curved elements suggest a zone where sea, sky and inner space overlap. The composition is less about balance as a doctrine than about the tension created when opposites remain in contact.
Firebird
Firebird responds to Igor Stravinsky’s ballet through movement, rhythm and color rather than illustration. Explosive gestures and fluid transitions suggest energy, ascent and transformation. The work reflects my broader interest in translating musical structure into visual form.
Featured Artworks 2022
Blue and Brown
Blue and Brown belongs to the Gestural Paintings series. Broad turquoise and brown strokes create a composition based on movement, pressure and counter-movement. The work draws on both gestural abstraction and the rhythmic discipline of Chinese brushwork.
The End of Time
The End of Time is painted with various inks on Yupo paper. Two opposing fields appear to pull and push against one another, creating a sense of compression and expansion. The work uses gestural abstraction to explore tension, containment and the perception of time.
River Deep Mind High
River Deep Mind High combines layered blue, ochre and dark ink forms in a turbulent spatial field. The work draws on both Chinese brush traditions and Western gestural painting, using movement and depth as visual equivalents for mental and emotional intensity.
Corona and Ice (II)
Corona and Ice (II) contrasts dark fragmented gestures with brilliant blue vertical forms. The composition suggests a tension between instability and frozen stillness. Painted on Yupo paper, the work relies on the unpredictable flow of ink to intensify that contrast
Featured Artworks 2021
Elongated Landscape
Elongated Landscape stretches the idea of landscape into a narrow, dynamic composition. Strong vertical movement, color contrasts and gestural forms replace conventional perspective. The work reflects a continuing dialogue between landscape painting, abstraction and ink-based brushwork.
Music and Power
Music and Power is part of the Zen Moments series, but its primary focus is visual rhythm and force. Turquoise drips, heavy brown forms and darker gestures create a dense, energetic composition. The work explores how movement, repetition and contrast can produce a sense of musical intensity.
Over the Mountains
Over the Mountains combines sweeping green, blue and earth-toned gestures in an abstract landscape structure. The work draws on Chinese painting concepts and Western gestural abstraction. It was later published in a bilingual volume of poems by Theodor Storm, for which I also designed the cover.
Featured Artworks 2020
Poem in Red
Poem in Red is based on the repeated writing of a poem by the Ming-dynasty painter, calligrapher and poet Tang Yin. Dense red calligraphic layers transform the written text into an abstract visual field. Meaning remains present, but language gradually becomes image.
Spring
Spring developed from the repeated inscription of an ancient Chinese poem. Overlapping green, yellow and brown calligraphic forms create a dense field in which writing, rhythm and abstraction merge. The work belongs to my Painted Calligraphy practice, where text is gradually transformed into visual structure.
Down by the Sea
Down by the Sea combines fluid ink forms on Yupo paper with references to landscape and marine imagery. At first the work appears abstract, but more recognizable structures emerge through closer viewing. The image moves between seascape, memory and spontaneous ink gesture.
Selected Works Before 2020
Sunset in the Woods
Sunset in the Woods was inspired by a walk through the Vienna Woods and by a renewed interest in the expressive color of the Blue Rider painters. Vertical bands of blue, green and orange transform the landscape into a rhythmic, semi-abstract composition.
Artist highlights: Fetish
Fetish combines expressive black and reddish-brown brushwork with a visual language informed by Chinese calligraphy and Western gestural painting. The composition depends on movement, interruption and open space rather than on representation.
Power Play
Power Play explores the expressive possibilities of gestural calligraphy. Bold red and black strokes collide and overlap across the white surface, creating a composition driven by movement and tension. The work treats ink as both writing and abstract gesture.
Withered Hibiscus Flowers
Withered Hibiscus Flowers reflects on decline, fragility and the beauty of impermanence. Brown, sepia and dark ink marks suggest withered plant forms without describing them literally. The work connects observation of nature with a restrained, imperfect aesthetic.
Discover the complete collection in the Art Portfolio, or explore the ideas and traditions behind the works through Art Theory and the Arts and Philosophy Journal.
Art Portfolio → Art Theory → Arts and Philosophy Journal
Collect the Artwork
Selected original artworks and prints are available through my online galleries.
Comments
2 responses to “Featured Artworks”
It was not announced. I check your site every day.
🤣