❮ ◯ ❯ Missing Ground Contact

Oil and Egg Tempera on Canvas on Panel, 100 x 73 cm, 2013

From the theater in front of a curtain

Like all grandfathers, mine once predicted serenity for old age. Is that also true for politics? Yes, he reassured me as a teenager. Walter Ulbricht's politics, for example, made him white-hot in my childhood. Only a few years later he smiled: You can not take this old goat seriously.

Despite emerging serenity, I am indifferent to political tendencies. Should I as a painter reflect on political developments? The answer in me is again and again: Please no daily policy. Look for metaphors!

Twenty years ago, in the Venetian Accademia, I first saw the 'Madonna degli Alberetti' by Giovanni Bellini. ❯ Here you can see himthe Madonna and Jesus Child painted 1487. Great theater in front of a simple curtain. A captivating staging, a simple yet ingenious image idea. For my still lifes, I occasionally borrow them.

Having returned from a holiday in Venice for several weeks, I saw potatoes germinate in a clay pot of our kitchen. They were quite long germs. The potatoes had sacrificed their last energy in the hope of the future. Unfortunately, they will shortly pass without grounding. They lack the grip. But first they show themselves in yellow, green and purple beauty. A desperate grasp of light towards death. It offered me an equally compelling staging as that of the Madonna and Child.

In politics, there is less and less content. Post and power are the goal, often interspersed with dangerous emptiness. A helpless scramble on a cold stage towards the camera. Ministers are often too young and inexperienced. They lack history, diplomatic experience and serenity. And they have too much gloss and a studied permanent smile. They lack as well as my kartoffs the grip. And so they pass quickly.

There was the metaphor. A shapeless red brick on green marble becomes the stage for the last journey. Soon come woodlice and spiders. Death and the devil are already working in the background. The beauty is deceptive. It is a short sad rearing, before the curtain falls and the grasshopper moves on. Probably for those who have experience and history, who are given the grip for the future. I wish these people and potatoes a long, fulfilling life full of colorful blossom and beauty.

© MWJ, Bremen, 23/07/2014