ikedine Günther is an abstract painter living in Basel and Stalden, Switzerland. Her leitmotif is the “core”, encompassing everything between microcosm and macrocosm. She expresses her research into the theme of the core in paintings between abstraction and natural forms. Working...
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ikedine Günther is an abstract painter living in Basel and Stalden, Switzerland. Her leitmotif is the “core”, encompassing everything between microcosm and macrocosm. She expresses her research into the theme of the core in paintings between abstraction and natural forms. Working on this she has spent several years developing a unique style of multilayered painting in her remote studio in the Swiss alps.
Günther was born in 1966 in rural Westphalia, Germany, and has always been fascinated by art. In 1982 she took part in Josph Beuys’ project at the documenta 7 in Kassel, which radically opened up Günther’s approach to what art can be. Afterwards she studied at the HFBK Hamburg in the classes of Franz Erhart Walter and Werner Büttner and also took a guest semester at Martin Kippenberger’s class in Kassel.
Ever since then Günther has been studying classic art and got absolutely passionat for ottonian manuscripts and gold panel paintings. She is a book lover and collects primitive art and oceanic objects. Her own artistic practice benefits thereby from Günther’s broad knowledge of traditional old master’s techniques and her dedicated interest in poly-cultural symbols.
In 2004 Günther took part in an Active Imagination after C.G. Jung and found in the search of an archetype her inner core. After that she painted her first core painting. Ever since this experience the idea of the core has been central in her art and she kept on developing and researching the different meanings and possibilities of this leitmotif. According to her research the core is an universal symbol, which can be found in any culture or religion. It combines in itself microcosmic and macrocosmic relations: the core is represented in every single biological cell of our bodies and at the same time it is the basic form of every planet of the cosmic system. This universal openness of meaning creates the possibility to connect with the core on a multitude of levels.
For her research Heikedine Günther travels a lot in the believe that it is necessary to see a lot to train oneself to see the world properly. In between trips she returns to her quiet studio in the mountains of Switzerland to work on her art. She is a skilled painter and develops paintings off which she takes unique monotypes as individual artworks. She has also worked with sculpture, installation and textiles.