'chi-mime throwing card in puddle'

STÖBERWALD

Alles was nicht brennt
oder zerfetzt.

Lumpen.
Ameisenverein -
in Lumpen.

Gemäldenhinblick,
Gemäldenrückblick.

Alles was ich nicht
malen kann -
im Vorausblick.

just a few words about an exhibition i visited yesterday in the local modern art: Ger Lataster. the man’s 90 years old and well known all over the place, and still painting daily it seems. what made me curious enough to cycle across the bridge on this wonderfully bright and hot friday, was his way of painting and his concern about and involvement with social and political issues which occured throughout his lifetime: the spanish civil war, concentration camps – my man! -, the capitulation of Berlin, the cold war, Vietnam, the fall of the Berlin wall, Afghanistan etc etc. all giant topics that had a huge impact spanning almost a century.

now, i couldn’t get much out of the paintings by how they were called, as the man is generally considered an abstract-expressionist. this was, however, not important from my point of view, as i only focused on the dynamics of his paintings and the materials and colors used. his canvases are huge, so not even that many are exhibited. there’s a selection from the mid-fifties until recently, and i have to say most didn’t touch me at all: too wild for my taste, thick layers of paint smeared out and scratched into frantically with some sharp object. disharmonic colors these had too, clung together. too crowded, clogged. but, i’m not questioning the man or the quality of his work here, i’m just getting to what did interest me.

there are a couple of later paintings that turn more figurative and transparent, the canvas is left blank, sometimes like ‘holes’ in the middle of the paint. subtlety kicks in, much more refined. the colors fade, swirl, turn into organic movement. that’s what started tickling me. these were way more harmonic, lighter, had a delicate sense, although his strokes were still very wild: the charcoal, the spray and the oil paint. in the center of the museum an entire wall is covered by a tetraptych which theme is Auschwitz. to be more specific: the piles of hair, glasses, shoes, and finally a pile of ashes that remained of the once owners. a shovel is stuck in all four. he calls it ‘the women’s hair, the poets’ glasses, the workers’ shoes, and the ashes of everyone.’

in the area beside a film is shown that almost entirely follows the creation of these four paintings in his studio. a camera is accompanying him close-up, which would’ve freaked me out for sure. he talks in between about the progress, the changes he makes, the paint he spills on the canvas which he tries to scrape off as delicately as possible and is in complete contrast to how he basically works. it is beautiful to see, but it makes you wonder and question things too. you sometimes begin thinking the camera is really in the way and it would have been better not to know at all. but still, despite all of that the film made me more aware, and observing the paintings longer i even grew fond on them.

in the background of the exhibition you will hear Jimi Hendrix’s Machine Gun being played continuously, recorded live at the Fillmore East in 1970, and referring, of course, to the Vietnam war. there’s a headphone on the wall to enjoy the song more intensly. pretty appropriate i must say.

so watching the film and especially the four ‘Auschwitz’ paintings, things started to pop up slowly and connect. i was thinking in english vocabulary, but on my way home i had to get off my bike to write down some words in my small notebook - in german. more appropriate in hindsight, of course, and a little while later above poem was materialized. sorry for not translating it, it always turns out worse than the original words used and i’m not really good at it either. i prefer putting down the language given right away.

the exhibition can be seen until the 6th of september 2010 in museum Van Bommel van Dam, in Venlo. it is definitely worth the four euros, and coffee or tea is for free.