WHERE THERE IS LIGHT
2021
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 2 cm
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 0,79 in
acrylic and oil on canvas

In the darkest hour
As far as I can see
Stand my ground
Be the morning light
In the deepest sleep
As long as I can breathe
Stand close to me
Be my morning prayer
Where there is light
Hope conquers all.

CB/2021

* * * *

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

THE SOUL AND THE SUMMER
2021 / acrylic and oil on canvas
120 (h) x 100 (w) x 2 cm / 47,2 (h) x 39,4 (w) x 0,78 in

"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer."
~ F.Scott Fitzgerald (ex: The Great Gatsby)

UNDER THE SURFACE
2021 / acrylic and oil on canvas
120 (h) x 100 (w) x 2 cm / 47,2 (h) x 39,4 (w) x 0,78 in

"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer."
~ F.Scott Fitzgerald (ex: The Great Gatsby)

WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE (diptych)
Diptych 2020
150 (h) x 260 (w) x 4,5 cm
59,1 (h) x 102,36 (w) x 1,77 in
acrylic and oil on canvas

LARGE STATEMENT PIECE
LARGE-SCALED DIPTYCH

Inspired by long conversations by the fireplace…
When two worlds collide, we live for the moments that are worth remembering. Everything else is part of a past that tries to keep us from moving on.
I want to see more, feel more, live more, you say. I've already seen a lot, but it's not enough for me. I want to go on until my feet and my curiosity no longer carry me. But the time has not come yet. You look at me expectantly, but I don't say anything. When two worlds collide, love is not a safe place, it never was. Moments and the memories of them may be intended for the universe, but not people.

This diptych combines the following works and should be "read" from left to right:

*

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 in
left part of the diptych

The Awakening: 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.

*

ON OUR 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 in
right part of the diptych

The Fading: 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.

* * * *

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”
~ William Faulkner

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
~ Lao Tzu

UNTIL THE WORLD WILL DISAPPEAR (diptych)
Diptych 2020
150 (h) x 260 (w) x 4,5 cm
59,1 (h) x 102,36 (w) x 1,77 in
acrylic and oil on canvas

LARGE STATEMENT PIECE
LARGE-SCALED DIPTYCH

What we had won't go away.
What we were will always be with us.
Maybe you forget my face and my name, but who I was for you will stay.
Until your moon sinks in the sea.
Until my world disappears.

CB/2020

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. In this specific artwork I deal with our inner restlessness and longing that sometimes makes it so difficult for us to remain in the moment and enjoy happiness.

This diptych combines the following works and should be "read" from left to right:

*

FROM ONE END OF THE WORLD TO THE OTHER
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 in
left part of the diptych

*

AS FAR AS THE CURRENTS CARRY ME
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 in
right part of the diptych

* * * *

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

“Love is hard to find, hard to keep, and hard to forget.”
~ Alysha Speer

ALL ENDS IN SILENCE IN PASSCHENDAELE
2021
150 (h) x 120 (w) x 2 cm
59,1 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 0,79 in
acrylic and oil on canvas
Coronavirus series

The Battle of Passchendaele (also known as Third Battle of Ypres) was a campaign of the First World War, fought by the attacking Allies (Belgian, French, British Expeditionary Force and Canadian Expeditionary Force) against the defensive German Empire, near the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders, from July to November 1917. Men went into battle because the politicians told them this was the decisive war that would end all wars. But nothing but horror and death awaited them. The battle ended with the conquest of the small village of Passchendaele, but there were hundreds of thousands of casualties in this offensive. More than 600,000 soldiers died here in just 100 days for a small shift of the front line. The campaign was controversial and has remained so. Especially the effect of the exceptional weather, the decision to continue the offensive in rainy October and the human costs of the battle are also debated. That is why the Flanders Offensive now stands for the brutality and senselessness of this war.

* * *

“This is a war to end all wars.”
~ Woodrow Wilson (President of the United States), 1917

As statements to counter President Woodrow Wilson's words:

"Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
~ George Santayana (Spanish author), 1922

“This war, like the next war, is a war to end war.”
~ David Lloyd George (British Prime Minister), 1917

* * *

About the background:

This painting is one of a monochrome series of current works that artistically deal with the subject of the coronavirus and the effects. There is an existential threat that is not exactly tangible, remains diffuse and yet dominates everything. What does this pandemic do to the individual? What will remain of this strangely depressing time? Sometimes a look at history helps. In modern history, how did previous generations deal with such dramatic episodes? And we understand, there were dramas of completely different dimensions that humans are able to cope with.

A war of annihilation raged around a hundred years ago (1914 - 1918) that set the entire world on fire and changed everyone: The First World War is the key event of the 20th century and is still having an impact today. The history books contain the names of the generals and the great battles. But what about the normal individual, the one in the trenches as well as the families who struggled for survival back home? How did you think, how did they feel in the midst of an existential threat that they had no control over?

The photos of the battlefields of the First World War, in particular the fighting on the Western Front in Flanders, before Verdun and on the Marne and Somme (between German, French, British, American, Belgian, Australian, New Zealand, Portuguese, and Canadian soldiers) formed the con-crete template for these paintings. The monochrome color scheme of the paintings, dominated by Prussian Blue, refers to the historical black and white photos. The letters that the soldiers at the front wrote back home are well documented. And anyone reading this field post today will notice that the men in the armies (and their families) thought and felt alike despite their opposition. And even more, how similar people were to us with all their hopes and fears at the beginning of the 20th century, more than we probably want to admit.

Today these battlefields have been renatured. The fields and forests are quiet and peaceful, and almost nothing gives an inkling of the earlier horror, the trenches, and mass armies that generated unprecedented destructive power with modern weapons. What determined the fate of millions of people is now only a fading memory. And this is exactly what the artworks in this series of paintings tell about. There is a fundamental insight: every horror has an end at some point. The chance to shape life individually and freely again will return. The coronavirus will only remain a temporary episode in all of our lives. And in a hundred years at the latest we won't even remember what is troubling us now, what caused it, whether it was good or bad, and whether it was a medical or a human disaster. The dark fades (too) quickly. Man is a survivor and always looks ahead. And that's how I want the paintings in this series to be understood, despite the difficult subject, as signs of firm hope.

UNDER A RAGING MOON (diptych)
Diptych 2018
150 (h) x 260 (w) x 2 cm
59,1 (h) x 102,36 (w) x 0,79 in
acrylic and oil on canvas

LARGE STATEMENT PIECE
LARGE-SCALED DIPTYCH

Inspired by the history of the medieval Kingdom of Jerusalem and the fall of Acre 1291: Outremer (French: outre-mer, meaning "overseas") was a general name used for the Crusader states; it originated after victories of Europeans in the First Crusade and was applied to the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, the County of Tripoli, and especially the Kingdom of Jerusalem. We hardly remember the names and the knightly bravery of the defenders, we hardly imagine the deepness of their religion and Christian motivation, but the fall of Acre was one of the most important battles of that medieval period. It signaled the end of the Jerusalem crusades. Acre was the capital of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, a crusader state established by European Christian knights in the Southern Levant after the First Crusade in 1099. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks. Acre was well defended by knights, with two lines of thick walls and had twelve powerful towers (which were built by European kings and rich pilgrims). The siege began on the 6th April 1291.

This diptych combines the following works and should be "read" from left to right:

*

DEUS LO VULT. GOD WILLS IT
2018. acrylic and oil on canvas
120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
47,2 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 0,79 in
left part of the diptych

*

NO MORE SHALL MY MORNING RISE IN OUTREMER
2018. acrylic and oil on canvas
120 (w) x 150 (h) x 2 cm
47,2 (w) x 59,1 (h) x 0,79 in
right part of the diptych

* * * *

“So wise so young, they say, do never live long.”
~ Shakespeare (Richard/Act 3, Scene 1)

MARY MAGDALENE IN ECSTASY
(AFTER CARAVAGGIO)
2021
100 (h) x 120 (w) x 2 cm
39,4 (h) x 47,2 (w) x 0,79 in
acrylic and oil on canvas
Coronavirus series

Mary Magdalene was a strong woman and former sinner who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and its aftermath. She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels. The fascinating figure of Mary Magdalene was a popular artistic motif during the baroque and renaissance periods. The basis for my artwork is a baroque oil painting by the famous Italian painter Caravaggio with the title “Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy”, which was created in Rome in 1606. Impressed by this beautiful and passionate work, and as a personal response to the coronavirus and these difficult times, I decided on a contemporary, color-reduced reinterpretation of the motif.

* * * *

“The grief of this woman, whose life was changed by her personal encounter with Jesus, is the grief of us all, in our darkest moments.”
~ Pope Francis on Mary Magdalene

“Remember Mary Magdalene. If I become a Saint – I will surely be one of darkness. I will continually be absent from Heaven – to light the light of those in darkness on earth.”
~ Mother Teresa

NO MAN’S LAND
Quadriptych 2021 (4 pieces)
Complete dimension with a hanging distance of 5 cm / 1,96 in between the 4 pieces:
hung as a square with 2 in a row: 65 (h) x 53 (w) x 2 cm / 25,6 (h) x 20,9 (w) x 0,79 in
hung side by side: 30 (h) x 111 (w) x 2 cm / 11,8 (h) x 43,7 (w) x 0,79 in
dimension of each piece 30 (h) x 24 (w) x 2 cm / 11,8 (h) x 9,44 (w) x 0,79 in
acrylic and oil on canvas
Coronavirus series

During World War I, No Man’s Land was both an actual and a metaphorical space. It separated the front lines of the opposing armies and it could also be the most terrifying of places; one that held the greatest danger for combatants. During nightfall each side would dispatch parties to spy on the enemy, or to repair or extend barbed wire posts. Reconnaissance missions were similarly com-mon. Injured men trapped in No Man's Land would often be brought in under cover of darkness, as were corpses for burial. Consequently artillery shelling of No Man's Land was common, quickly reducing it to a barren wasteland comprised of destroyed vegetation and mud-soaked craters.

* * *

“There was not a sign of life of any sort. Not a tree, save for a few dead stumps which looked strange in the moonlight. Not a bird, not even a rat or a blade of grass. Nature was dead. And death was written large everywhere.”
~ Private R.A. Colwell, Passchendaele, January 1918

“No Man’s Land was like the face of the moon, chaotic, crater-ridden, uninhabitable, awful, the abode of madness.”
~ Wilfried Owen

* * *

About the background:

This quadriptych is one of a monochrome series of current works that artistically deal with the subject of the coronavirus and the effects. There is an existential threat that is not exactly tangible, remains diffuse and yet dominates everything. What does this pandemic do to the individual? What will remain of this strangely depressing time? Sometimes a look at history helps. In modern history, how did previous generations deal with such dramatic episodes? And we understand, there were dramas of completely different dimensions that humans are able to cope with.

A war of annihilation raged around a hundred years ago (1914 - 1918) that set the entire world on fire and changed everyone: The First World War is the key event of the 20th century and is still having an impact today. The history books contain the names of the generals and the great battles. But what about the normal individual, the one in the trenches as well as the families who struggled for survival back home? How did you think, how did they feel in the midst of an existential threat that they had no control over?

The photos of the battlefields of the First World War, in particular the fighting on the Western Front in Flanders, before Verdun and on the Marne and Somme (between German, French, British, American, Belgian, Australian, New Zealand, Portuguese, and Canadian soldiers) formed the con-crete template for these paintings. The monochrome color scheme of the paintings, dominated by Prussian Blue, refers to the historical black and white photos. The letters that the soldiers at the front wrote back home are well documented. And anyone reading this field post today will notice that the men in the armies (and their families) thought and felt alike despite their opposition. And even more, how similar people were to us with all their hopes and fears at the beginning of the 20th century, more than we probably want to admit.

Today these battlefields have been renatured. The fields and forests are quiet and peaceful, and almost nothing gives an inkling of the earlier horror, the trenches, and mass armies that generated unprecedented destructive power with modern weapons. What determined the fate of millions of people is now only a fading memory. And this is exactly what the artworks in this series of paintings tell about. There is a fundamental insight: every horror has an end at some point. The chance to shape life individually and freely again will return. The coronavirus will only remain a temporary episode in all of our lives. And in a hundred years at the latest we won't even remember what is troubling us now, what caused it, whether it was good or bad, and whether it was a medical or a human disaster. The dark fades (too) quickly. Man is a survivor and always looks ahead. And that's how I want the paintings in this series to be understood, despite the difficult subject, as signs of firm hope.

DAY AND NIGHT ON THE SOMME
2021
120 (h) x 100 (w) x 4,5 cm
47,2 (h) x 39,4 (w) x 1,8 in
acrylic and oil on canvas
Coronavirus series

The Battle of the Somme lasted 141 days (1 July – 16 November 1916). Men went into battle because the politicians told them this was the decisive war that would end all wars. But nothing but horror and death awaited them. British casualties on the first day of this battle were the worst in the history of the British Army. In the United Kingdom and Newfoundland, the Battle of the Somme became the central memory of World War I, but in Germany, memories of this fight (and this war) have largely been pushed out of the public eye.

* * *

A German officer wrote home, 14 August 1916:
“Somme. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more ghastly word!”
~ Friedrich Steinbrecher (killed in action 1917)

* * *

About the background:

This painting is one of a monochrome series of current works that artistically deal with the subject of the coronavirus and the effects. There is an existential threat that is not exactly tangible, remains diffuse and yet dominates everything. What does this pandemic do to the individual? What will remain of this strangely depressing time? Sometimes a look at history helps. In modern history, how did previous generations deal with such dramatic episodes? And we understand, there were dramas of completely different dimensions that humans are able to cope with.

A war of annihilation raged around a hundred years ago (1914 - 1918) that set the entire world on fire and changed everyone: The First World War is the key event of the 20th century and is still having an impact today. The history books contain the names of the generals and the great battles. But what about the normal individual, the one in the trenches as well as the families who struggled for survival back home? How did you think, how did they feel in the midst of an existential threat that they had no control over?

The photos of the battlefields of the First World War, in particular the fighting on the Western Front in Flanders, before Verdun and on the Marne and Somme (between German, French, British, American, Belgian, Australian, New Zealand, Portuguese, and Canadian soldiers) formed the con-crete template for these paintings. The monochrome color scheme of the paintings, dominated by Prussian Blue, refers to the historical black and white photos. The letters that the soldiers at the front wrote back home are well documented. And anyone reading this field post today will notice that the men in the armies (and their families) thought and felt alike despite their opposition. And even more, how similar people were to us with all their hopes and fears at the beginning of the 20th century, more than we probably want to admit.

Today these battlefields have been renatured. The fields and forests are quiet and peaceful, and almost nothing gives an inkling of the earlier horror, the trenches, and mass armies that generated unprecedented destructive power with modern weapons. What determined the fate of millions of people is now only a fading memory. And this is exactly what the artworks in this series of paintings tell about. There is a fundamental insight: every horror has an end at some point. The chance to shape life individually and freely again will return. The coronavirus will only remain a temporary episode in all of our lives. And in a hundred years at the latest we won't even remember what is troubling us now, what caused it, whether it was good or bad, and whether it was a medical or a human disaster. The dark fades (too) quickly. Man is a survivor and always looks ahead. And that's how I want the paintings in this series to be understood, despite the difficult subject, as signs of firm hope.