acute

In my work I deal with human emotional worlds and how these emerge in human existence. In the course of this, I came across the 1950s film star James Dean, who achieved worldwide fame as an actor by bringing the entire spectrum of extreme emotions to the big screen in his films with a breadth, depth and authenticity that had never been seen before. As a male sex symbol of his time, he also took on a pioneering role by integrating the female element into himself and his game, thereby showing himself vulnerable and attackable to the public. Access to this part of his personality also provides an explanation for the extraordinary fascination that he radiated across genders to audiences. I chose the portrait genre because faces with eyes, mouths, facial expressions and gestures offer the highest level of resolution and density of expression for experienced and lived feelings. In order to do justice to the vulnerability demonstratively displayed by James Dean, simply stroking the canvas with paint was ultimately no longer enough, which is why I looked for more authentic means of expression. And because in real life external injuries are usually stitched with needle and thread, it was only logical for me to describe the contours of the oversized faces with seams in order to convey the inner vulnerability to the outside. The color red increases the intensity and, through associations of blood, fire, anger and passion, completes the viewer's feeling of vulnerability. In addition, the partially sewn threads give the image a liveliness and process-like quality, which means that the image does not just appear to dissolve. Not least as a metaphor for the destructive battle of the most diverse feelings that raged throughout the enfant terrible's expressive and far too short life.