Statement

My art finds its most essential denominator in problems and possibilities of identity and the relation of individual and society. In this sense, my work addresses imperfection and failure, as well as disentanglement and liberation, progress and exultation. I like to see my work as
an inquiry into what Francis Bacon called “the human form”. How can the reality of something that consists of various, ambivalent and inconsistent aspects be described in one single picture? It is a work of precision and translation, of composing the disjointed. Therefore,
the integral elements of my art are figures of contradiction and repetition.
I’m a painter, working in situ as well as on canvas and paper. Especially my paintings and drawings are generally being positioned within the wider tradition of abstract expressionism, though their most basic characteristic is a more or less aggressive pressure to be as tangible
as possible. Whereas the installations relate directly to the actual site, the work in the studio is linked to my own experience, directly and spontaneously.

On canvas and paper, the material I use is foremost my very own and personal life and identity (comparable to the work of Sophie Calle),
my emotions and conflicts, my freedom and my liberty in regard to the echo of history, the history and context of art, society and the world in general. I try to express my belief that perfection is not attained in humankind. I attempt to show a total sincerity of the self, which for me includes incidence, fate and error in the passing of life. The process is being regarded much more important than the result. My work reflects disorder and spontaneity, expressed in patterns of continuous, countless, irrepressible approach. The simple and abstract power of words is grounded in concrete intimacy and meets an anti-romantic, if not a position of punk. The word ‘punk’ means for me a position of questioning established ways of thinking, to be against the conditioning of certain systems.
My drawings and paintings are built upon the process of leaving marks. Here, the palette of media I'm using is ranging from hand-writing (with pastels, pencils or markers, or direct engraving in the paint), drawn patterns, fractured calligraphy or large bursts of primary color, mainly acrylic paint, which is mostly applied directly with my fingers. I like to have no intermediaries between my hands and the paint. If I choose to use something, I like tools that are not tools in the common sense, like wood sticks, pieces of cardboard or cork bottle stoppers.

The installations give me the possibility to escape the initial frame of the medium and to paint in the real world itself in a very direct sense.
I love the idea of being ‘out of the frame’. Each and every installation is specific to a geographical site and a given social context at a contemporary time. The installations do not follow a precasted plan but emerge in the actual occupation of the space when I start working. Again, this includes spontaneity and direct interaction in the process. I start with a real situation to construct my painting. This reality is not being modified, as I'm interested in its entire complexity.
The resulting installations often give an impression to ‘grow’ as a continuum with no end. Trying to describe what is foremost form, I'm looking for a resonance, if not a feedback of space. I'm not concerned with an analytical translation of awareness into a form of art, though I certainly find motivation with art being a trigger for individual awareness and reflection within reception and experience.
For the installations, I use acrylic or enamel paint, depending on whether the work takes place indoors or outdoors. The paint is applied on every medium: walls, columns, pavements, streets, buildings, bridge, cars, bikes, trees, grass, people. Compared to the range of media of my drawings and paintings, my installations are made out of simple paint, which gives them a rather minimalist character far from street art or graffiti. Applied with a simple brush, the type and quality of paint is always chosen with great care.
The painted installations are mostly non-permanent pieces. This has no consequence to me, the process, or the quality of the piece. Once the installation is over, I do not want to interfere with its own lifecycle.

For the past two years, I have increasingly been creating installations with light. Here, drawings are being projected with light on buildings (like “Oh mon Dieu” on the Berliner Dom). Again, each drawing is made specifically for the building or site.

As with the installations, where it seems like removing physical limits is helping me to achieve souvereignity in regard to the control of other boundaries, systems and schools of thinking, the work on canvas and paper is an inquiry into what is possible. This requires great demands in «un-learning» and «re-learning», which calls not only for forthrightness but also the acceptance of noise. I’m trying to be as sincere and open as I can. The image of liberation that I’m looking for derives from this effort and a confrontation of different rationalities: the rationality of society, which is very basically speaking of function, and the rationality of art - which is speaking of everything else.

Is it a representation of something? It tries not to abstract from anything. It’s just what it is. It’s reality itself.