artist statement

Starting to work in the field of commercial photography in 1978, my interest and desire to explore two of its main constituents - ’light’ and color - on a more complex (profound) level, drew me towards the visual arts. Opting for an experimental approach using photographic means, I soon realized that I was searching for a less technical and a more ’human’ access towards the issues of ’light’ and color. Consequently, in 1980 I started to explore the field of (abstract) painting, joining the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and studying under Prof. Guenter Fruhtrunk. Painting opened for me a new and challenging range of possibilities in my investigation of above mentioned issues. Aiming to translate my experiences with experimental photography into painting, color and movement - of light - became my ’painterly’ language. Relocating to Berlin in 1983, I continued to develop this approach. During this time, however, my focus started to shift more and more towards the exploration of ’pure’ color.

Via Paris, I settled in New York City in 1986. Investigating and employing the traditional means of painting (canvas, oil, pigment, the two-dimensional format etc.), my understanding of color evolved continuously. During this time, I emphasized color as light, using it rather as an element than a material, an entity in itself. With this newfound consciousness (understanding/focal point), I started to investigate and emphasize the physical aspect of ’light’ (reflection, refraction etc.), while introducing new, ’non-painterly’ materials - such as Polyurethane and other industrial products - into my work.

Since my arrival in Brussels in 1998, my work underwent yet another significant transformation. While color, understood as color, became a secondary element, ’light’ itself became my central point of interest. This shift of focus induced at the same time my questioning of the traditional idea of painting, the illusionary image and it’s values in contemporary life and art. As a result, I began to investigate appropriate ways to provide ’light’ as I perceived it with an appropriate stage (platform).

This development lead me to a further simplification and reduction of the ’vehicles’ of painting (foreground-background, illusionary quality in its two-dimensionality, perspective etc) and an even more expanded understanding of the essentials of ’light’ and color and their possible form of presentation. My works - understood as a carrier, a mediator of light in its physical quality - gradually expanded from their place on the wall towards their spatial relation(s), their possibilities towards a space, within a space and within their own structure. My practice shifted from creating paintings, traditional in their form and qualities, towards creating objects/installations/situations, which are understood as spatial, architectural structures, creating a forum to experience and to broaden the perception of light itself as well as of ’painted’ light.

This development resulted in my complete move into the three-dimensional realm. Incorporating a given architecture and finding a unifying balance between the especially conceived ’objects/elements’’ and their surrounding, I consequentially realized a number of architecturally related, site-specific installations like. Hier en Nu, Tour & Taxis, Brussels, 2001; Fetes des St.Martin, Tourinnes-La-Grosse, 1999; CCNOA, Brussels; 2000 & 2003, PS, Amsterdam, 2003.

Simultaneously, my move into the three-dimensional asked for the use of more ’practical’ materials, which would enable me to suit a more challenging scale and to answer to the need for an enhanced flexibility of operation within this context.

Exploring continuously adequate and more refined ways of presenting light and it’s mediator - the finished object/structure/installation — while seeking simultaneously a more ’realistic’ and less ’illusionary’ quality and dimension of its perception, I came to letting myself be inspired by everyday objects and structures. This also induced my thought of consideration to separate painting from its metaphysical qualities. This recent significant development in my practice can be experienced in my use of color as light, commenting on its use in real life and the questioning of its traditional hierarchy. Aiming to open common connotations of color and broadening the understanding for the potential of color as light, I continue to pursue the comprehension of light as an essential and constituent element of life.