In my artwork I focus on the theme of the vulnerable child, reflecting my own experiences, feelings and memories from childhood. I deal with questions concerning the invisible space between inside and outside. Even though the portrait of a child plays a major role in my paintings, the portrait should not be seen autonomously and isolated as such, but as part of a complex image structure.
I integrate the painted child's portrait into a pictorial space consisting of spherical layers of transparent drawings or graphic print elements. By oscillating between the individual formal elements and the overall structure, formal connections of the constructed space-form-cosmos can be broken and connected to a new universe by the viewer. In contrast to the traditional child portrait my paintings offer new associative resonance spaces and levels of interpretation.
The title "Paper Toy" refers to something fragile and light that can fly, bridge distances and activate childhood memories. Our gaze is drawn to a paper airplane that is currently hovering in a childlike universe between figures and creatures from the world of African imagery.
What does the child on the left represent? What's the meaning of the black mask with its antenna-like Grid Braids, is it a symbol for a child's game with one's own identity or was it put on the child by someone? What associations does the black mask trigger in me and is my view culturally influenced? Does the child wear the mask or does it merge with the child? Through the open eye slits of the mask, the child takes the viewer into a world full of open questions.
In my artistic work, it is always important to me not to make statements, but to move people to engage with the image reflecting their own soul and to ask themselves questions about themselves and the world. There is no generally valid answer to these questions. The answer to the questions lies in the viewing person himself/herself.
The picture was created process-like by alternately adding and taking away. At the beginning I painted the finished child portrait without mask, then I glazed over it with white primer then designing the mask with charcoal. In the process, the brushstroke came out slightly, hinting at the details of the child's face. Through the white glaze layer, the child's face recedes spatially behind the mask, it appears thin-skinned and pale. The child in the right half is painted very glazed, while other parts in the painting are painted in several opaque layers of color. The figures surrounding the child are partly printed, partly painted.
Both, the narrative and the creative aspects play equally important roles in my paintings. Content, rhythm, colour and form determine my pictorial concept.
