interview

What inspired you to become an artist and when did you start taking art seriously?

My path to art only began in the second half of my life. It wasn't a conscious decision at first. I developed strong feelings when looking at pictures, and I was drawn to very different works: color fields by Rothko and also a small, quiet landscape with a lake, for example. I then asked myself why this was happening to me? How does it work? In the aforementioned Hodler exhibition, you could take a look at his sketchbooks and see how Ferdinand Hodler sketched, planned and calculated this landscape. So could you learn it? The question of how art works became more and more pressing for me and when family time and life allowed it, I started to attend a painting and drawing school. There I began to learn a new craft. Only over time did I realize that painting was a way for me to express my experience of the world.

Which artists or art movements have most influenced your style and work?

Certainly Vilhelm Hammershoi, the colour surfaces of Rothko, the rooms of Karin Kneffel, Eric Fischl - the Krefeld Project, Matisse and the teachers from whom I have been able to learn in recent years.

Could you walk us through the creative process you go through when creating a new piece?

There are two ways to do this, but in any case the image begins in the mind: With a chair image it is about the character of the chair, its shadow and the section of the room. How exactly is the room shown? What conversation are the chair and its shadow having? I only use a folding chair when I need it, for spontaneous visits or when I change location and am not staying long. An old kitchen chair in dialogue with a chair from the "living room". If the topic is given (e.g. for a group exhibition) or current, such as a "confessional conversation" in a church, then my thoughts turn to how we experience a sacred space, what happens inside us? Who uses it? A lot of people don't go to church at all, they have no connection to God or faith. But confession, why do we confess? Where do we confess? Why have confessionals been abolished? In which situations do we confess lies, secrets, confess secret love? What is the room like, the situation? Dark, mostly dark - balcony, terrace, car journeys at night, at the end of a party, in a bar, at the campfire. Not always dark: in front of the toilet door, at the hairdresser. Without depicting the people, I want to tell the story of the people and so traces of people are in the picture. As is the case here: the table, bottles, a chair and unexplained traces.

Is there a particular theme or message you want to convey in your work?

Rooms that tell stories. Rooms in which life takes place or has taken place. Conversations, tears or anniversaries that have left their mark on tablecloths. Questions that the picture poses to us.