Beethoven
19.12.2021
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Besides Beethoven's wonderful music, I learned that he always had the work as a whole in view when he was composing, something I find important to remember. Quite funny the description of his apartment: three grand pianos on the floor without legs, a chair with 3 legs, leftovers from a snack, on a standing desk the draft of a new opus, half-empty bottles, but this chaos was juxtaposed with an utmost methodical approach in his composing work. I also like the story that for his 7th symphony he had created a new musical annotation for a horn section, not f for forte, not ff for fortissimo, but fff for super loud, which probably is a good description of my color palette as well.
Joseph Beuys
16.12.2021
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
One of my first encounters with the art of Beuys was in 1977 when I visited the Documenta in Kassel. I still see in my mind’s eye the installation ‘Honey Pump at the work place’. I clearly remember the feeling of curiosity – this was by Beuys after all – but also the irritation at what I saw. It seemed incomprehensible. What was that machinery? What was that heap of grease? And most of all, was that real honey that was being pumped to the top of the staircase? Without the context of what Beuys called a ‘Social Plastic’, neither the title nor the installation itself divulged meaning to me at the time. Today I appreciate the new perspective that he brought to art by saying: "Everybody is an artist". He meant that every person as a social being has the creative power to change himself and the world. In that sense, I see myself in a beuysian tradition, not limited to my painting but most of all in how I interact with the world, with people. It all can be (/is) an artistic endeavour that can bring change for the better, for me, and those I am in contact with. Beuys says we are endowed with the creative power to bring change, let's use it.
Norah Jones
28.12.2021
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Norah Jones, what a fantastic artist. Her voice speaks to me. Her music moves me, so entertaining, so inspirational. I love to listen to her music while painting ...
Greta Thunberg
15/10/2021
50 x 40 x 2 cm (h x w x d)
acrylic on canvas
While the media seems to be most interested in Greta’s recent move to Stockholm in her own apartment, the real issue that she has pushed on the agenda of world leaders remains the climate crisis. It is so much easier to talk about her dogs and other personal matters, rather than what really concerns her. She is planning to travel to Glasgow to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference and seems to be rather pessimistic about the outcome. For all pratical purposes, we as humanity still have not grasped the clear and present danger in its magnitude that is upon us. Why are we ignoring what science is warning us about? Some want us to believe that this is due to our technological inability, which is simply not true. It seems we fear the needed change more than the consequences from our inaction. Greta is my hero, because of her relentless effort to open our eyes, open our ears and her encouragement to open our mouth, until this runaway climate train is halted, hopefully before you know what hits the fan.
Jon Batiste
19.11.2021
50 x 40 x 2 cm (h x w x d)
acrylic on canvas
Jon Batiste is my favorite musician for a while now. I first saw him on the Stephen Colbert show, I saw him on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert. I love the songs: 'I need you', 'Don't Stop', 'Cry' and 'We are' and actually all his other music too. The visuals, from his outfits to his looks, his videos, it all is so vibrant and it made me want to paint him. This will probably not be the last painting I make of him.
AUDREY
26-09-2021
54 x 37 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
18/09/2021
54 x 37 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
FRIDA
31/10/2021
54 x 37 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Dalí
22/02/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
When I began my passion for art as a kid, I came across these amazing paintings that seemed like out of a dream. I remember that I saw my first Dalí in London while visiting a friend as an 11-year-old. I was fascinated by Dalí and his ability to capture subconscious reality in razor-sharp details. I fell in love with Dali’s works immediately. A poster of ‘Swans Mirroring Elephants’ was hanging over my bed in my youth room for years. I remember, however, that initially I was irritated by Dalí’s boastfulness and flamboyancy. Later I began to understand the concept of self-branding and that this exceptionally gifted artist was a “Gesamtkunstwerk” (a total work of art) what I perceived as exaggeration was part of the total Dalí paradigm. Now, I am still fascinated by what surrealist painters transferred to canvas. Through Salvador Dalí, I became aware of another painter whose works I love: Rudolf Hausner, founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. When I was studying film in Texas in the early eighties, one of my first projects was an animation on the works of Rudolf Hausner’s Adam. Little did I know that some decades later I would work as a visual effects producer for a movie production company, responsible for creating fantasy scenes and creatures using software tools. I wonder what Dalí would have done with such modern tools, if he were to create ‘An Andalusian Dog’ today.
Whoopi Goldberg
15/06/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Whoopi Goldberg plays one of my favourite characters in the Star Trek franchise. As Guinan, she plays a wise and trusted advisor that knows how to communicate the complicated and has a sort of sixth sense about things that are somewhat hard to understand.
I was astonished at the controversy that was enkindled by her remarks regarding the question of race in the Holocaust. As a German, I believe that matters regarding our Nazi past always call for particular attention. Whoopi Goldberg has most certainly had to endure her share of racism. The discussion on what can be said and what not is important, and requires wise discernment.
I agree with those that say racism is all too real and we cannot cease to fight against it. Racialization on the other hand is a construct that arises only based on what a dominant part of society defines as the norm. Just because the Nazis defined the Jewish population as race, does not mean that de facto such a thing as race describes the victims of the Holocaust. I believe that attributing a racial status to a group of humans is in itself racist. The monstrous plan and execution of the annihilation of a group of people for any reason can only be condemned and needs to be stopped. If the definition of race is used by the racist as a narrative to distinguish and discriminate, I believe it is important to point out, that racialization is a fictitious narrative and has no basis whatsoever in science or reality. Instead, racism is very much a reality in 2022 and the uncomfortable truth is that it won't go away without a massive and constant effort.
Martin Luther King
09/06/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
As I prepared this post I wrote some thoughts about Martin Luther King and then discarded it after I saw this post by his daughter @berniceaking, which I find so much more appropriate. She wrote: "My father, Dr. #MartinLutherKingJr, did not dream of a colorblind society. He dreamed of a World House where the terrors of white supremacy, colonialism, and imperialism are eradicated. And of a Beloved Community where extreme materialism, poverty, racism, and war are not horrifying blights against humanity. So many need to discontinue quoting one line from ‘I Have A Dream,’ without proper context and attention to what he said in that entire speech and in his other speeches, sermons, and writings. That one line is often misused to deter truth, love, and justice."
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
23/04/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
My homage to Zelenskyy.
“In today’s world, where we live, there is no longer someone else’s war. None of you can feel safe when there is a war in Ukraine, when there is a war in Europe.”—Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Dua Lipa
11/01/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Oprah Winfrey
10.07.2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
When I moved to Chicago in 1985, I remember that people were talking about Oprah Winfrey and her talk show. The career she builds and the successes she has achieved are, to say the least, very impressive. I do not know her well, but when I was looking for another portrait subject of a strong woman, I stumbled across her images and decided to paint her. I like her saying: “Know what sparks the light in you, then use that light to illuminate the world”. This is so true.
Madonna
11/07/2022
59 x 45 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Madonna, for over 30 years the Queen of Pop and the most successful singer in the world. All this time this multi talented woman has been in my ears with her songs, and in my eyes with her visuals. Respect and chapeau to a brightly shining star.
Amy Winehouse
31/10/2022
100 x 80 x 2 cm (h x w x d)
acrylic on canvas
I love Amy’s music! So unfortunate her tragic and untimely death. When I hear about her troubles, I wondered how someone that resonates so wonderfully with her art could find so much dissonance with her private life and relationships. Her legacy lives on.
B.B. King
08/07/2022
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
I love the Blues and B.B. King is my favourite Blues musician. Fondly I remember seeing him live in Bonn in July 2011. Blues is music that speaks to me and often accompanies my creative process. In my Blues playlist B.B. holds an important place. B.B. King rest in peace – long live B.B. King.
Duke Ellington
03/04/2022
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Ellington's famous song "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" somehow describes, how I paint. I feel that my use of colour is about that "jazzy" expressiveness. I like to describe my approach as a form of (jazz) improvisation. I don't care about the photographic detail. I am fascinated by how my splashes of colour come together when I hammer layer after layer with my paint knife on the canvas (or paper in this case). Like sound, colour can be described by its frequency. Every time I am astonished by what results from my paint process. Each of my paintings evolves through a mashup of colour frequencies that surprisingly find an excited state of equilibrium in their cacophonic entanglement. I am convinced that this sort of precarious balance is already inherent in the colour palette I use and not something that I make. And each time my patience is challenged when the process still hasn't returned the desired result, even worse when it seems impossible that it will ever conclude well. Each time it is a moment of relief and joy when wondrously and surprisingly the desired equilibrium emerges and I can say "it's finished".
Louis Armstrong
25/03/2022
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
Satchmo’s most famous song „What a Wonderful World” seems to clash with how I feel about the world today. There is an ugly war raging against the Ukrainian people, perpetrated by an ugly Russian aggressor. When the song came out in 1968 the world then too was shrouded by an ugly war in Vietnam, the Kennedy assassination and unbearable racial discrimination. To some Louis Armstrong’s song may seem naive, but it describes the beauty that can be found in the little things, that are taken for granted or remain unnoticed. We live in a wonderful world, I can acknowledge that and be an echo of that wonder. No matter how dark it gets, my earnest “how do you do”, can be a spark of love. It may not stop the heartless from their murderous deeds and it may not protect the innocent from the deadly rain of bombshells, but I don’t want to stop acknowledging my option to see a wonderful world and to measure the present and future against that and not measure it on the basis of the ugly, the negative. Someone may say that that is naive, I for one want to hope against all hopelessness uncovering and creating through my actions a portion of a wonderful world.
Andy Warhol
11/04/2022
59 x 46 cm (h x w)
acrylic on paper
It was Andy Warhol who said: "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." From what I understand, he did not mean everyone will get fame, but it won't last more than a quarter of an hour. Social media has opened a new stage for POPular attention and the 15 minutes sounds about right. Warhol's Pop Art started in the decade that I was born and it was a turning away from the abstract and focused on objects/subjects of consumption by exaggerating their triviality through oversized representation or a motif sequence. My own turning away from the abstract, which led me to my current portraying style, has little to do with the metamorphosis Warhol performed on the supposedly unsophisticated Pop Culture. His astounding re-presentation makes Cambell's can art. All art is of cause a re-presentation, but what makes it art is that process or re-imagination. As artist we are not functioning as a camera, we are that what happens after the shutter closes. Hegel would probably describe the iterations of art direction and styles through the centuries as a dialectic process of thesis and antithesis, propositions of new artistic re-imagination and their expression become the steping stone for the next. I feel the impact Pop Art had on me and my own art, even if it seems to reflect only on Andy Warhol color pallet.
