Ever since I can remember, pictures made me fascinated. I remember well the huge paintings in pediatric practices, which I watched with endless patience. Again and again my eyes strolled along the fine lines, stopped on dots, jumped from subject to subject. I imagined the artist guiding the brush, and wondered how he could know where his brushstroke had to lead to create such a picture.

 

When I was eight years old, I finally met the first real artist. He was coming from Russia and painting the wall of a kindergarten. I enjoyed observing this mysterious man persistently and absorbing as many of his characteristics as I could into my mind.

 

How did a person come to paint pictures on a wall? How did a person come to do something that no one else around me was doing? 

 

With bright colors he painted out what he had previously drawn out with a pencil. As he noticed my interest, he even allowed me to paint a small spot of bright green color on the wall. 

I persuaded him to come with me to my home to proudly present him to my parents. However, since he barely understood German, our short get-together consisted of spending silent minutes smiling, sipping tea, and nodding our heads.

 

The fascination for artists, paintings and brushstrokes are with me until today. I just can't get enough of it. Isn't it impressive how the contours and colors harmoniously combine to form a subject? 

Why does the artist choose these colors? Why does he paint this face, this object, this fruit, this picture of all pictures?

 

Work analyses and interpretations give me some insight into these questions, but they reveal only a fraction of what the hand of an artist guides. 

 

Did the artist pull his brush to the right or to the left when he defined the incidence of light? How is it possible that some people naturally succeed in picturing something in three dimensions? Where does the ability come from to make visible our own imagination and reality? Is it organic in nature and therefore a result of certain connections in the brain? Is it possible to develop this ability without tips and tricks? (Be-)Is the ability to paint to be found in our genetics?

 

A riddle!

 

I don't pre-draw anything, but rather apply layer upon layer of color, always hoping to get to the ground of the ability to paint, to bring forth a subject from pure intuition, to define it three-dimensionally and to make it visible. I let myself be driven by the poetry in my head, interpreting and following the language of the canvas.

 

The hunt for the source of art in man, an all-encompassing solution to the riddle, seemed futile to me, but I got never tired of it...

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                             EX.ZEN.TRI©K

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