Schleier-Haft

Especially now in the time of the Corona crisis, in which people are losing a large part of their freedom due to politically imposed restrictions, it is externally visible and noticeable when we cannot live the way we want. We are regulated and externally determined by imposed external constraints (face masks, distance rules, etc.). It became clear to me that some people are marginalized for life by the norms of society, which they cannot live up to because they are different, and that their life development is massively disrupted. Therefore I painted a young man in the habitat of a grieving woman with a black ribbon. What superficially looks like a fashion accessory is in reality like a grid that separates us from the outside world and isolates us socially (e.g. transgender issues). A prisoner who has to spend lifelong lonely behind bars. The 2001 novel "The Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier deals with the question of who the woman in the picture is and develops a fictional story about the maid Griet, who is the model for the picture. The young male model in my picture is also presented in a three-quarter portrait, facing the viewer. It is surrounded by an aura of the mystical. The viewer is literally asked who is the young man and what is his story? The tulle fabric, which is brittle in some places, gives rise to hope that entrenched social patterns can be broken through through inner strength. The title "Schleier-Haft" plays with the German word Schleierhaft, which means opaque and strange. The term "detention", which is associated with punishment and being locked away, puts the depicted protagonist in the criminal milieu. There is something wrong with the person. It's not entirely "kosher". He's an outsider - a nerd.