Life drawing has been at the center of my artistic work for over 20 years. Sparked by the wish to include people in my watercolour landscapes, the depiction of people soon became an independent theme, ultimately leading to the exhibitions “Captured Moments – Momente Eingefangen” and “People – Personen – Personnes,” featuring exclusively life studies. Woodblock printing became my preferred technique. I often work without a fixed idea, allowing the picture to develop spontaneously as I cut the block. I find the cut block itself attractive, even though it is a mirror image of the print and the cut-away regions become discoloured when the printing ink is removed. I love the smell of the printing ink!
One day, I thought: Why don’t I turn the woodblock into a painting? When I examined some wood off-cuts, I soon discovered traces of people in the grain. This is how the theme “Traces” for this exhibition emerged. I begin by cutting along the grain with the V-knife, without focusing much on the result. Often, if I “see” anything at all in the grain, I only “see” a first person or a head, nothing more. The rest of the picture emerges as the observation and creation process progresses. The type and quality of the wood varies – only the forms in the grain matter! Every piece of wood is different, and hidden within every piece of wood is an image, a trace of something – different grain lines form different shapes, sometimes even human figures, and may thus entice the viewer to discover new forms. No prints could be made from these engraved pieces of wood – they are not “printing blocks” – they are not cut in the right way, and the cuts are not deep enough.
The other pictures in the exhibition interpret the theme “Traces” in a broader sense.