This picture is from the series “Children of The Universe”.
It shows a girl looking at a flying heart as a symbol of being relieved.
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 overall picture. The purpose and intention of my painting is not the depictive representation of real figures, it is rather about the examination of the different layers in which they are interwoven. Both the narrative and the creative aspects play equally important roles in my paintings. Content, rhythm, colour and form determine my pictorial concept.
The pictorial space does not end at the picture frame. It continues beyond the edge of the picture and merges into an associative space between the viewer and the picture.
In my paintings I deal with questions of human existence in the invisible space between inside and outside.
In doing so, I paint portraits of children after models, but basically each of the portraits is a kind of self-portrait.
It is meant to inspire us to ask new questions about ourselves, what we are and what we feel.
In this picture I integrated the painted child portrait into a pictorial space with a printed heart hovering in the air. The heart and the rope are important formal elements of the composition. They create new associative spaces and levels of interpretation when viewing the portrait. My paintings tell stories, dependíng on the imagination of the viewer. In this way, each figure of the picture acquires a special meaning in the viewer's gaze with regard to his or her own self-image.
I use simple printmaking techniques, such as styrene printing, printing techniques with wood glue and a rope. So I work against my inner demand for perfection, ignoring the original aim of printmaking. Not everything in the picture should be planned or controlled. I enjoy using the playful-experimental possibilities of different graphic techniques for more lightness, to free myself from the narrowness of dogmatic constraints and to get a bit closer to my "inner child".
Because of the longer drying process of oil paintings, I currently prefer working with acrylic paint or with mixed media. The technique of acrylic painting allows me to work more spontaneously and dynamically, it frees the figures from the rigidity of oil painting and gives them room to breathe.
