IN THE LAND OF GODS AND MONSTERS
2017
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 4,5 cm
acrylic and oil on canvas

In this land called soul, nothing is free of doubt, every step is a highwire act, a difficult balance between heaven and hell, between good and evil, right and wrong, a neverending trip between summer and winter, night and day and between Olymp and Hades. I remember Friedrich Nietzsche and his thoughts: 'God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives; who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves?'

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"To live is to suffer,
to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering."
Friedrich Nietzsche

IN FLANDERS FIELDS II
2017
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 4,5 cm
acrylic and oil on canvas

I do believe in the importance of history. History can tell us anything about men and politics and power. This painting deals with the subject and absurdity of war. There was one very important and bloody phase in World War I (1914 – 1918):

4 years war at the Western Front in Belgium in the fields of Flanders. Hundred thousands, enemies and friends, they lost their lives in trench warfares and buried in the Flemish earth. They called it "The war to end all wars" (sometimes also "the war to end war") and it is a very famous term of World War I, created in August 1914 and originally used in an idealisitc way. Young men in the trenches believed in that phrase, and it gave apparently a sense to all the bloodshed. This land tells their story - till this day. There's also a museum in Ypres/Belgium. And there are all these red poppies in the fields as a reminder of the lost souls. The British officer John McCrae wrote in May 1915 the most famous poem about the killing fields of Flanders: IN FLANDERS FIELDS.

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"In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row..."

(composed by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae
at the battlefront on May 3, 1915
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium)

REMEMBER THE DREAMS WE ONCE HAD
triptych 2017
acrylic and oil on canvas
380 (w) x 120 (h) x 4,5 cm

Years passed, seasons came and went. Do we remember where we have started from? The younger years, our hopes and dreams, all the golden life goals? Do we stand the ground, do we still believe in us? And what about the answers that life won't give us? Do I remember my dreams, the dreams I once had, and do you still believe in me?

I share the opinion of the famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944), that paintings contain not only a creative message as single piece. You can look at them also in a major conceptional context. This triology REMEMBER THE DREAMS WE ONCE HAD combines three new and essential of my works (2017) from aesthetic standpoints as well as with regard to contents.

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LARGE-SIZED PAINTINGS.
LARGE-SIZED TRIOLOGY.

The triology combines following works and should "read" from left to right:

left part:
IN THE LAND OF GODS AND MONSTERS
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2017, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm

center part:
AWAKENING BENEATH AUTUMN SKIES
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2017, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm

right part:
IN FLANDERS FIELDS II
arylic and oil on canvas, 2017, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm

SEA AND SKY AND MELANCHOLIA AT THE END OF SUMMER
Triptych 2016/17
acrylic and oil on canvas
380 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm

LARGE-SIZED PAINTINGS.
LARGE-SIZED TRIOLOGY AS TRIPTYCH.

I share the opinion of the famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944), that paintings contain not only a creative message as single piece. You can look at them also in a major conceptional context. This triology SEA AND SKY AND MELANCHOLIA AT THE END OF SUMMER combines three new and essential of my works (2016/2017) from aesthetic standpoints as well as with regard to contents.

Summer is over soon and the days getting shorter again. Autumn is on the way. We feel the last warm breeze on our skin. Blue surrounds us and is the dominant colour. We are in between summer and autumn, in between blossom and fading. But we are just bystanders, we have no right to a say in a matter. Sea and sky exist from the beginning to the end of all times. And what about us? Do we have collect enough precious summer moments to survive the cold and darker days? With every new year the summer feels shorter, and life too. Where are the endless summer months at the seaside, far away from daily routine, where are our younger and lighthearted days? Hope is beyond the horizon line. But we are fighters and we have nothing to fear. Sea and sky and sometimes also melancholia will accompany us. And we should remember Dylan Thomas and his poem: "Do not go gentle into that good night." Next summer will come. Farewell warming sun. This is not the final.
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The triptych combines following works and should "read" from left to right:

"WHEN THE NIGHT FALLS ON SACRED LAND"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2017, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
left part of the triptych

"WHERE THE WHITE WINDS BLOW"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
center part of the triptych

"TO THE EDGE OF THE WORLD AND BEYOND"
arylic and oil on canvas, 2016, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
right part of the triptych

* * * *

"Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage again the dying of the light."
Dylan Thomas

THE ICONOGRAPHY OF A FALLEN LOVE (ANNE BOLEYN)
triptych 2016
acrylic and oil on canvas
330 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm

The triptych is the fruit of a long-term internal creative dialogue with the use and meaning of Gold and Copper. I do love the famous use of these colors by Gustav Klimt and by medieval iconographers. My own contemporary interpretation (or maybe transfer) features dozens of really thin color layers and gradients mixed with Gold, Copper and Earth-Colors. Each of the three paintings highlights a different aspect of this transfer, but they contain not only a creative message as single piece. You can look at them also in a major conceptional context and from combined aesthetic standpoints as well as with regard to contents. This triptych THE ICONOGRAPHY OF A FALLEN LOVE (ANNE BOLEYN) has to tell a story.

About my thoughts and emotions during the painting process: Love comes, love goes. The rise and fall from grace in ten years. England in Renaissance... Speaking about Anne Boleyn, the second wife of the famous King Henry VIII who has been called the most influential and important queen consort England has ever had. In spring 1526 Henry began his pursuit of Anne Boleyn, an attractive and beautiful young lady at his court. He felt in deep love and wrote a collection of passionate love letters to her. But she resisted his attempts to seduce her, refusing to become only his mistress (which her sister Mary had been). She wanted more, and so he proposed marriage to her and she accepted. For her love he was willing to move mountains and annulled his former marriage and declared his independence from the Holy See that was the start of the English Reformation. Anne was crowned Queen of England as the second wife of King Henry VIII on 1 June 1533. She gave birth to the future Queen Elizabeth I. But as a queen Anne refused to play the submissive role expected of her. The vivacity and opinionated intellect that had made her so attractive as an illicit lover made her too independent for the largely ceremonial role of a royal wife and it made her many enemies. Henry, who started to dislike Anne's constant irritability and violent temper, was more and more disappointed to have only a daughter rather a son. Anne's downfall came shortly after she had recovered from her final miscarriage. At this time the king found a new mistress and needed reasons for his marriage with Anne to end. Anne Boleyn was arrested and sent to the Tower of London where a jury found she guilty for high treson. It was a propaganda trial with untrue accusations, but nobody rose the word for Anne. On the morning of Friday 19 May 1536 she was beheaded within the Tower of London and buried in an unmarked grave. The day after Anne's execution Henry became engaged to Jane Seymour, who had been one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting. They were married ten days later (the third of finally six wives of King Henry VIII). Beside all politics and intrigues, what did happen to this former so passionate big love? Remember the final sentence of the famous Song of the Nibelungs (5th century): 'At the end love bears always suffering'. Love comes, loves goes. The rise and fall of Anne Boleyn in ten years...

The triptych combines following 3 works and should "read" from left to right:

"AT THE DYING OF THE LIGHT"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016, 100 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm
left part of the triptych

"ARE YOU WITH ME AT FIRST AND LAST LIGHT"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
center part of the triptych

"THE AWAKENING COASTLAND"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2016, 100 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm
right part of the triptych

* * * *

"I beseech you now with all my heart definitely to let me know your whole mind as to the love between us..."
- Extract of a love letter from Henry to Anne

"O Death, rock me asleep, bring me to quiet rest, let pass my weary guiltless ghost out of my careful breast."
- Anne Boleyn

"Of all losses, time is the most irrecuperable for it can never be redeemed."
"Two beheadings out of six wives is too many."
- Henry VIII of England

FROM THE FIRST LIGHT TO THE VERY LAST LIGHT
Triptych 2017
acrylic and oil on canvas
380 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm

I share the opinion of the famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944), that paintings contain not only a creative message as single piece. You can look at them also in a major conceptional context. This triology FROM THE FIRST LIGHT TO THE VERY LAST LIGHT combines three new and essential of my works (2017) from aesthetic standpoints as well as with regard to contents.

Over the years the circle of life became more and more a major painting topic. I don't speak about the big events and actions. Life is always a mixture of little moments and small but not marginal key experiences. That's what we remember when we look back. Not the complete story of our life from a to z, but just a few important breathtaking moments. Life is a circle and follows the run of the sun: we awake, we rise up, we take a deep breath before we fall down again and fade. This triptych is the result of long-lasting creative inner fights (and sleepless nights too), combines following works and should "read" from left to right:

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The Awakening...
"WAKE ME GENTLY BEFORE THE SUN RISES"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2017, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm
left part of the triptych

We are giants in the morning light. We don't have questions in the beginning. Every breath is a sunny day and paradise. No doubts in our head and heart. We don't know fears about the future. We are alive and we feel and we dont't need and we don't want more. We believe that these sound and safe days and nights are endless. But we have to grow up sooner or later.

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The Breathing...
"LET ME REMAIN WHERE THERE IS LIGHT"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2017, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm
center part of the triptych

Our sun is at the zenith. We are invincible, and we stand our ground. We fight and love and love and fight. This is the time of our life that we will remember yearningly in ten and in twenty years. We are not innocent any longer but we have the right to make our own mistakes. And we carry endless dreams in us and the world has no limits. We laugh and kiss and remember Samuel Beckett: Ever try. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. - Wind will change sooner or later and suddenly there are first clouds in our summer sky.

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The Fading...
"WE BECOME SILENT WHEN THE TWILIGHT FALLS"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2017, 120 (w) x 150 (h) x 4,5 cm
right part of the triptych

Late summer turns to autumn, and the winter is just a question of time. The show isn't over with one last bang. It is a slow process with countless steps from the light into the dark. The sun already descents. But we want to resist, we want to stop the run of the sun, and if it's only for a little while. 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 remember Dylan Thomas: we don't go gentle into that good night. There is no real finale, we are just a small part of the circle.

* * * *

"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)

HOME TO THE GOLDEN SHORES I BELONG
triptych 2014
acrylic and oil on canvas
310 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm

3 LARGE-SIZED PAINTINGS
LARGE-SIZED TRIOLOGY AS TRIPTYCH

I share the opinion of the famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944), that paintings contain not only a creative message as single piece. You can look at them also in a major conceptional context. This triology HOME TO THE GOLDEN SHORES I BELONG combines three essential of my works (2013/14) from aesthetic standpoints as well as with regard to contents.

Dream me home to the golden shores I belong... Life isn't always a bed of roses but a rollercoaster and a challenging journey. And days aren't always golden and sunny. There is a breaking point in every life and it happens sooner or later. You wake up and the world isn't the same anymore. A zero point in your head and heart. Black mountains to your back, and inner storms kill your last dreams and heroes. But you don't give up. Whatever will happen, you remember your childhood, the warmth of the fireplace and all the cozy feelings. Home is your mental shelter from the poisoned rain, the safehouse where your familiy leaves a light on. And if the world would end tomorrow morning, you don't care tonight. You face your melancholy and the tears. Home is where your heart is. Home is where the sea gulls cry, where the waves break at the golden coast and winds from the North whisper your name. Maybe you are lost in thoughts on open sea. But sirens and mermaids laugh and call your sinking ships back to the port. This not the time to give up. There's always a light to follow and to find your way through the winter night. Home is your guidepost. And you say: Dream me home to the golden shores I belong...

The triptych combines following 3 works and should "read" from left to right:

"SHOW ME A PLACE THAT LIVES UP TO ITS PROMISE"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2014, 100 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm
left part of the triptych

"KRIEMHILD SEEKS REVENGE"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2013, 100 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm
center part of the triptych

"FANCY AND FATE EARLY IN THE MORNING"
acrylic and oil on canvas, 2014, 100 (w) x 120 (h) x 2 cm
right part of the triptych

* * * *

“How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange roof, thinking of home.”
- William Faulkner

WAKE ME GENTLY BEFORE THE SUN RISES
(THE INNOCENCE OF A SUNDAY MORNING II)
150 x 120 x 4,5 cm
acrylic and oil on canvas
2017

Innocent sun is rising
Everything wears a new name
All seems gone and forgotten
In the first hour of the day
But do you remember us
Forever under a California sky?

* * *
"Know where to find the sunrise and sunset times and note how the sky looks at those times, at least once."
- Marilyn vos Savant

LET ME REMAIN WHERE THERE IS LIGHT
150 x 120 x 4,5 cm
acrylic and oil on canvas
2017

"No one loses anyone, because no one owns anyone. That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it."
- Paulo Coelho (ex: Eleven Minutes)

WE BECOME SILENT WHEN THE TWILIGHT FALLS
(BLOOD WILL HAVE BLOOD II)
150 x 120 x 4,5 cm
acrylic and oil on canvas
2017

I often mediate on Shakespeare and his ageless dramatic scenarios. I do love his very poetic but razor-sharp, brilliant psychological consideration of the human being. Remember Macbeth. Striving for power -- political, financial, intellectual, sexual -- ruled, rules and will rule the world. We aren't more than a stone's throw away from former generations and centuries and from Scotland in the summer of 1057 (the death of king Macbeth).

Colours are especially inspired by the 2015 British-French-American Macbeth film adaption, directed by Justin Kurzel and starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. In Act V Macduff sets Birnham wood on fire and smoke and ashes blowing towards Macbeth's castle. Macbeth dies on the battlefield filmed in impressive orange and red camera shots.

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Macbeth to Lady Macbeth:
"It will have blood, they say; blood will have blood."
(Shakespeare: ex Macbeth, act III scene IV)