Abtauchen in Welten

«Abtauchen in Welten» means «plunging in worlds» and deals with the confrontation of political issues gaining visibility in this hightly digitalized world. The gumboots stand for the vulnerability of children, the caviar symbolises luxury and might, the blood for all the blod being shed in fights for resources (food, water, commodities) and finally the arm fighting with white glove stands for the struggle of the black community struggling for equality.

Last but not least the pasted elements (pieces of paper) stand for the pasting and mashing-up of news that each one of us is involuntarily involved in each day. How do we prioritize news and issues? What is important in our own lives? We fabricate our own reality, blank out certain information or numb ourselves in order not to become overwhelmed.

However much we succeed in blocking out or mashing up, what remains is the stark and often cruel juxtaposition of issues turning one or the other into a parody at times. I tried to convey exactly this element of parody or slapstick like quality.

Hoffnungsträger

For no particular reason, I've been searching for images of fetuses lately. While they look great in photographs they must be impossible to paint. I tried it once but only got it to work when turning the thing into an installation («Embrio»). In this collage a girl is kneeling down to explore something innocently. As we grow out of our innocent baby-years we - consciously or unconsciously - take on genderconcepts of our family and people we might admire at the time and turn into our rolemodels. We work on our appearance, our character etc.

With this collage I wanted to express the danger of «losing oneself» in the process. While men may lose themselves in a macho role, women tend to give up their femininity when pursuing a career. Thus the question: «Noch alle weiblich?»

However that juxtaposition might also just be an overpolarization of the male - femal spectrum. I guess I just want to make people take a good hard look and decide for themselves whether they are truly realizing their potential or merely striving to be someone else.

Die Vorahnung - Einsame unter sich

Time and time again, I sit down, cut out clippings from newspapers and magazines, rearanging and gluing the sniplets together until - I find before me another piece of my past or current situation on a flat piece of paper. Sometimes it takes me three years to realize that what I have unconsciously put together is the perfect mirror of a particular situation or an image of a psychological constellation.

I found «Die Vorahnung- Einsame unter sich» to deal with me and my father. An accomplished man in the foreground and a somewhat extravagant newcomer in the background. Both are or will soon be successful in what they do, yet their success comes at the price of a certain solitude.

Scary somehow, how the unconscious keeps kreeping up at times, shouting almost: «Do you read me?»

Yoke

I've been obsessing about Barbie since my 20th birthday. Some say Barbies are old. In my opinion they offer a lot of room for interpretation. I like mixing parts of Barbiedolls with food.

Main inspiration here: Hans Bellmer

Don't crowd shelves, linens need air

Another piece of the small Polaroid series is this one. I rarely came across snippets of photographs this inspiring. I love the freedom the figure to the left expresses. She stands in contrast to the neatly folded sheets and the piece of advice "Don't crowd shelves: linens need air".