HOPE ON THE BEACH AT SUNSET (SANTA MONICA PIER)
150 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm / 59,1 (w) x 47,2 (h) x 0,79 in
acrylic and oil on canvas
2019

“I will remember the kisses
And how you gave me
Everything you had
And how I offered you
What was left of me.”

~ Charles Bukowski

YOUR NAME IS UNKNOWN, YOUR STORY UNTOLD
2013
59,1 (w) x 47,2 (h) x 0,79 inches
150 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm
acrylic and oil on canvas

An older work, just back from a multi-year exhibition and inspired by historical events and the fate of my two grandfathers: April 16, 1945... Seelow, a small German town, seat of the Märkisch-Oderland in Brandenburg, at the western site of the Oderbruch, only 70 km (40 miles) east of Berlin. This area was the location of the Battle of the Seelow Heights between the Soviet Army and the German Wehrmacht from 16-19 April 1945. The last extensive battle of World War II in the field, the collapse of the German east front, the opening phase of the Battle of Berlin. More than one million mainly Belorussian and German men on both parts of the front. The outgoing of the war was already obvious, only a question of weeks, maybe days. But they attacked the heights 4 days and nights, defended the defensive position with last resolution. The pictures remain: the senselessness of senseless dying, the apathy of death, the mechanism of war, blame and innocence, order and obedience, the pictures of glory, fame, but also megalomania and crime... that all against the background of the beautiful Brandenburgian nature in spring.

* * * *

"Your name is unknown. Your deed is immortal."
~ Inscription on The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow

THE REMAINS OF A WINTER DAY
2010
120 (h) x 100 (w) x 4 cm
acrylic and oil on canvas

Inspired by long winter evenings and the blue hours between yesterday and tomorrow...

And she said, dressed in her beautiful velvet dress, almost like a muse on the first warm spring day:
"Believe in me. Behind all mountains, far away from the suburbs of your lost battles and remains, there's always hope."
And I looked up, saw the look in her eyes, and replied after a long silence:
"The truth of your words is buried in the ice of those mountain peaks that you have piled up around us."

EVERY SUMMER HAS A STORY
150 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm / 59,1 (w) x 47,2 (h) x 0,79 in
acrylic and oil on canvas
2019

When I wake up
In the early summer
Wanna wake up with you
In my mind and by my side
Wanna face the beauty
And the beast

When I wake up
In the midsummer
Still wanna wake up with you
In my heart and hand in hand
Wanna face your sunlight
And believe.

CB/2019

* * *

"Beauty will save the world."
~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

DAYDREAMING OF AN ENDLESS SUMMER
150 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm / 59,1 (w) x 47,2 (h) x 0,79 in
acrylic and oil on canvas
2019

Be aware I'm dreaming the dark
A fallen king, a stranded soul
Without a throne, without an ark
Somewhere, somehow
Wanna find shelter from the cold.

Can't you see I'm yearning for light
A ground to live, a space to be
A place to keep me warm at night
Somewhere far from here
Where the summer never ends.

/CB

* * *

"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness."
~ John Steinbeck

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

Inspired by the sea view from the Oceanside Pier in San Diego, Southern California, face to face with dolphins and pelicans. The Pacific Ocean shines resplendent in the setting sun. Salty air and the deep blue water as soft as velvet. Boundless potency and force of nature with every heartbeat. A deceptive idyll. The sea can be everything, storm and doldrums, beauty and beast, sleeping giant and siren...

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.

CB/2019

* * *

"Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time."
~ H. P. Lovecraft

"Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone."
~ Unknown Author

AS WIDE AND AS WAVERING AS THE OCEAN
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 4 cm / 59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 1,6 in
acrylic and oil on canvas
2019

Inspired by these magic moments when the Southern California morning sun rises above the Pacific Ocean in Venice Beach, Los Angeles...

What is this life for? You don't answer. Your thoughts are offshore. And your eyes stare at me in the dark. Are you scared to be lonely? Everyone has its own path to follow. Reality is no peacekeeper. We were only giants in the morning light. You cannot hide what you aren't anymore, down by the sea. Don't speak a word, listen to the breaking waves. No one calls our ships back to port. Your soul and my heart, as wide and as wavering as the ocean.

CB/2019

* * *

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”
~ Mother Teresa

"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came."
~ John F. Kennedy

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

Inspired by long beach walks at the Atlantic Beach, New York in the last daylight...

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.

CB/2019

* * *

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

DEEP BLUE DAYS DOWN BY THE SEA
quadriptych 2019
acrylic and oil on canvas
horizontal hanging (4 paintings side by side in one line):
540 (w) x 150 (h) x 4 cm / 212,6 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 1,6 inch*
vertical hanging (2 paintings side by side in two lines on top of each other)
260 (w) x 320 (h) x 4 cm / 102,4 (w) x 125,9 (h) x 1,6 inch*
(*with a hanging distance each of 7,9 in / 20 cm between the single paintings)

TWO HANGING OPTIONS: HORIZONTAL OR VERTICAL HANGING - 4 LARGE-SIZED PAINTINGS AS QUADRIPTYCH

This quadrilogy 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 – at night. 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 and deep blue layers, 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 quadriptych combines 4 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:

first twilight brightens the sky:
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

promising tenderness in the morning:
AS WIDE AND AS WAVERING AS THE OCEAN
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

golden hours at noontime:
TIME GOES BY IN BEAUTY AND MELANCHOLIA
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2014
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 1,6 in / 150 (h) x 120 (w) x 4 cm

before the nightfall:
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