ON YOUR LAST BREATH BEFORE SUNSET, REMEMBER US
150 (w) x 120 (h) x 4,5 cm
47,2 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 1,77 inches
acrylic and oil on canvas
2020

Remember me, before sunrise
Remember me als I really was
A swaying lighthouse in the surf
In the face of the approaching storm
Before the light went out

Remember us, before sunset
Remember us as we really loved
Ships with set sails on the open sea
Heart over head, brave and proud
Before the port called us back to port.

CB/2020

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"What happens in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it."
~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez

FROM THE PROMISING FIRST LIGHT TO THE VERY LAST LIGHT
Triptych 2020
380 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm
149,6 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 0,79 inches
acrylic and oil on canvas

LARGE-SIZED PAINTINGS.
LARGE-SIZED TRILOGY AS TRIPTYCH.

Over the years, the cycle of life became an important topic in my painting. I'm not talking about the big events and actions. Life is always a collection of many little moments and key experiences. What do we remember when we look back? It is not the complete story of our life from A to Z, it is just a few important breathtaking moments that have shaped and enriched us. Life is a circle and follows the course of the sun: We awaken, we rise, we take a deep breath before we fall and fade again. This triptych is the result of long-lasting creative inner struggles (and sleepless nights), combines the following works and should be "read" from left to right:

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The Awakening...
IN THE LIGHT OF THE VIRGIN MORNING
2020. acrylic and oil on canvas
120 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm
47,2 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 1,77 inches
left part of the triptych

We are giants in the morning light. We have no questions at the beginning. Every breath is a sunny day and feels like paradise. No doubt in our head and in our hearts. We have no fear of the future. We live and we feel. We do not need more. We believe that these perfect and safe days and nights are endless, that they will last forever. But we have to grow up sooner or later.

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The Pulsation...
GIVE ME HOPE IN HOPELESS DAYS
2017. acrylic and oil on canvas
120 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm
47,2 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 1,77 inches
center part of the triptych

Our sun is at its zenith. We are invincible and assert ourselves. We fight and love and love and fight. This is the time of our lives that we will longingly remember in ten and twenty years. We are no longer innocent, but we have the right to make our own mistakes. And we have endless dreams and there are no limits to the world. We laugh and kiss and remember Samuel Beckett: ever try. Ever failed. No matter. Please try again. Failed again. Fail better. - But nothing is forever. The wind will change sooner or later and suddenly there are first clouds in our summer sky.

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The Fading...
ON YOUR LAST BREATH BEFORE SUNSET, REMEMBER US
2020. acrylic and oil on canvas
120 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm
47,2 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 1,77 inches
right part of the triptych

Late summer becomes autumn and winter is only a matter of time. The show is not over with one last bang. It is a slow process with countless steps from light to dark. The sun is already setting. But we want to resist, we want to stop the sun from running, if only for a short time. But we are no gods. We are not immortal. And tears fall. We feel too young to say goodbye. But we can be proud because we leave footprints here on earth. And it's not over now. We begin to accept our fate and enjoy the time that is given to us. Hope and love are the answers that help us through leaden hours. We smile and kiss and drink. And we remember Dylan Thomas: We don't go gentle into this good night. - There is no real finale, we are only a small part of the circle.

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"There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person."
~ Anais Nin (1903 - 1977)

FROM SOURCE TO SEA
diptych 2020
acrylic and oil on canvas
250 (w) x 150 (h) x 4 cm
98,4 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 1,6 in

2 LARGE-SIZED PAINTINGS
LARGE-SIZED TRILOGY AS DIPTYCH

This diptych is inspired by the sea as a never-ending melancholic, bittersweet but beautiful and poetical inspiration. Early in the morning – at noontime – in the evening hours. Down by the sea, lights and colors, wind speed and directions are very different during the day and during the seasons. There are commonalities, but every phase stays independent und has its very own feelings. The sea was, is and always will be a major place of longing for humans. The numeration is almost limitless: brightness, the Azure, summer (although I love the hibernal sea too), sand, waves, never-ending noises of breakers and sea gulls, salt in the mouth and at the skin. Wanderlust and downtime. It is the quiet life down by the oceanside. The sea deeply touches in its nativeness, autarchy, also destructiveness and its existence from the beginning to the end of all times. Every one of us ties his own stories with the sea. The diptych combines two pieces of my series of works with the title SUBZERO from aesthetic standpoints as well as with regard to contents and should "read" from left to right:

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left part of the diptych (the source):
A LOVE SO DEEP THE OCEAN WOULD BE JEALOUS
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2019
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 1,6 in / 150 (h) x 120 (w) x 4 cm

You smile. As you always do. You look like an angel in the fading light. Ocean winds from the South pet your hair. A perfect muse to the painter. Life imitates art, sometimes. For a little while. But not today. No candle in your window. Your beauty will not lead us back to light. The dark before the dawn is my companion. Far away from your specious and dying sun. Where no beam of light warms the sea. Do you remember this place? Do you remember the beginning? A love so deep the ocean would be jealous. This is what we came for. Deeper than the sea. Freediving to the deepest ocean bed. Back to the surface, head above the stormy water. Do you still remember? A love so deep the ocean would be jealous. Behind the horizon, beyond the sea, maybe. A love so high the mountains would fall silent. Under an undiscovered star, in a different universe, maybe. Life imitates art. Sometimes. Life imitates poetry. Sometimes. And sometimes not.

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right part of the diptych (the sea):
LET THE OCEAN BRING ME BACK SOME MEMORIES OF YOU
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2019
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 1,6 in / 150 (h) x 120 (w) x 4 cm

The ocean washes up hopes, daydreams and a bittersweet yesterday. Every one of us ties his own stories with the sea. And my story book has a chapter titled with your name. Where do we come from? Different time, different world. Is there a deeper meaning in these melancholic moments of arrivals and farewells? Faces and emotions come and go unceasingly, and in the middle of all these travels burns a soul full of nostalgia and insomnia. At least the ocean knows about the scars we wear. And at least the ocean brings me back some memories of you.

* * * *

“I am the shore and the ocean, awaiting myself on both sides.”
~ Dejan Stojanovic (ex: The Shape)

AFTER THE RAIN HAS FALLEN
Triptych 2020
380 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
149,6 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 0,79 inches
acrylic and oil on canvas

LARGE-SIZED PAINTINGS.
LARGE-SIZED TRILOGY AS TRIPTYCH.

About my inspiration:
Dramas are unavoidable. There are so many personal realities and not just one truth. That’s the cause of misunderstandings, contradictions and conflicts. Man is the origin of everything that is good and of everything that is bad in this world. Therefore, I deal in my work with the individual human being and his location in the modern age. Where are the truths of past times, all the certainties and the clear paths? We live in troubled times and lost the basic trust of childhood. We stand between hope and fear, between history and now, between faith and fight. So many different biographies united and separated by passions and longings, fears and doubts. And with dramatic stories that are worth telling. I do not paint new and fictional worlds; the human being is the only center of my artistic attention. Each abstraction starts with him and his little big world, his inner kingdom, his wounded soul. I choose nature as a great metaphor. That’s the way in how I reflect on what I want to tell about people. Nature is powerful, full of inspiring light, harmony and aesthetics. Man becomes small in the face of this beauty, which he can admire, but which he will never reach. And yet there is a connection. Nature is in us. All that defines us as human beings, what lives in us and makes us sleepless, all this has its counterpart in nature and is similar to coasts, mountains, seasons, forests and oceans. And our soul is the most enigmatic of all landscapes in which we wander as seekers and interrogators. My paintings give these journeys a face. Like a chronicler they document my wanderings through the inner landscapes. No doubt this is highly emotional, and it touches me deeply. It’s personal, sometimes dark and archaic, then again romantic and hopeful. But that’s exactly how I want it in my work. It can be an alliance or a duel, but in the end nature will always win.

This trilogy AFTER THE RAIN HAS FALLEN combines three very poetic works (from aesthetic standpoints as well as with regard to contents) and should "read" from left to right:

"I WOKE TO THE SOUND OF RAIN I"
2020. acrylic and oil on canvas
47,2 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 0,79 inches
120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
left part of the triptych

"MOUNTAINS MUST FALL"
2020. acrylic and oil on canvas
120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
47,2 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 0,79 inches
center part of the triptych

"I WOKE TO THE SOUND OF RAIN II"
2020. acrylic and oil on canvas
120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
47,2 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 0,79 inches
right part of the triptych

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"Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life."
~ John Updike (1932 - 2009)

I WOKE TO THE SOUND OF RAIN I
2020
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 2 cm
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 0,79 inches
acrylic and oil on canvas

And even if it was only a brief moment
I woke to the sound of rain
With the smell of your hair on the pillow
I woke to the sound of rain
In the heights of a new morning
That promised more than it could ever hold
I woke to the sound of rain
And the still virgin sun bore your name.

CB/2020

MOUNTAINS MUST FALL
2020
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 2 cm
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 0,79 inches
acrylic and oil on canvas

"Never measure the height of a mountain until you reach the top. Then you will see how low it was.”
~ Dag Hammerskjold

I WOKE TO THE SOUND OF RAIN II
2020
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 2 cm
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 0,79 inches
acrylic and oil on canvas

And so it only stayed for a short moment
I woke to the sound of rain
With your goodbye kiss on my lips
I woke to the sound of rain
In the middle of a leaden night
That was more real than you would ever be
I woke to the sound of rain
Once again determined to forget you and your name.

CB/2020

WHEN THE NIGHT FALLS ON SACRED LAND III
2019
acrylic and oil on canvas
120 x 120 x 2 cm
47,24 x 47,24 x 0,79 inches

My inspiration: Our souls are mysterious but wonderful inner landscapes. This nature is in us. All what defines us as human beings, what lives in us and makes us sleepless, all this has its counterpart in nature and is similar to coasts, mountains, seasons, forests and oceans. And our soul is the most enigmatic of all landscapes in which we wander as seekers and interrogators. This painting gives these journeys a face.

* * *

"Your heart is sacred land. Don't let just anything enter it. Guard it with your life."
- Yasmin Mogahed (ex: Reclaim Your Heart)

"This mountain has my heart. This land is our church."
- Caleen Sisk (spiritual leader of the Winnemen Wintu Tribe)

BEFORE THE TWILIGHT CALLS US BACK TO PORT
2019
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 2 cm
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 0,79 inches
acrylic and oil on canvas

Hoist the leaden anchor
Wherever you want to go
Put the linen sails
Whatever you want to be
Before the winds turn
Before autumn comes
Before the twilight
Calls us back to port

CB/2019

* * * *

“We know what we are, but not what we may be.”
~ William Shakespeare

SEARCHING FOR THE DAWN
2019
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 2 cm
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 0,79 inches
acrylic and oil on canvas

I don't remember your face
The sweet scent of your hair
And how you walked in the light
I don't remember your name
The full cherry red of your lips
And how you smiled under the sky
But what I remember at day and night
Is the first sunrise in your blue eyes
And my longing for the dawn.

CB/2019

* * * *

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today matters most.”
~ Buddha

“The morning steals upon the night, melting the darkness.”
~ William Shakespeare