Speech

by the art historian Dr. Gabriele Himmelmann, on the occasion of the vernissage of Angela Zander-Reinert
on 30.06.2022

Angela Zander-Reinert

AZR's theme - this is true at least for this exhibition - are forest landscapes and primarily the animals that populate the forest (deer, wild boar, there are also a few foxes).

Nature in her immediate surroundings (Duvenstedter Brook) is a source of strength for the artist - and it is also her motif. But you have seen that the works do not give a naturalistic image of nature - they are representations through which the subjective perception of the artist is expressed. What is seen is shaped by the sensations that arise when a particular landscape is viewed.

Of course, this is easy to say at first - the question that follows is: With what means does Ms. Zander- Reinert shape what she sees in order to let it become the expression of a world of sensations?

The color has a very decisive function. You see, color no longer necessarily describes the object, but takes on an independent form as an emotional value in the picture.

In the painting "Sacred Grove" at the entrance, you see intensely turquoise tree trunks that grid the picture surface and assert themselves as haunting color values independent of the object color. The turquoise contrasts dissonantly with the intensely colored cool violet and pink - we experience this color encounter as tremendously dynamic, dramatic, violent - through color we experience the power of nature. Zander-Reinert does not give us a report on the content of natural forces, but she makes them vividly experienceable for us in the picture via the energetic encounter of colors.

This pictorial strategy continues; it is also evident, among other things, in the birch paintings - Zander-Reinert says that on her forays through the North German landscape she has repeatedly noticed that the white trunks of the birches reflect the light in a special way and sometimes appear bright pink and rose. These strong-colored reflections, which assert themselves against the green of the foliage, once again announce the energy of nature, its cyclical renewal and its dynamic power.

I was also very impressed by the image of the deer in the small waiting room. The king of the forest with his mighty antlers raises his head to a powerful roar, but in the haunting, alarmist red is also distilled an experience of pain and helplessness that stands in stark contrast to the powerful gesture of the animal. But it is from this experience of dissonance that the image draws its intensity.

Now we have talked a lot about the color - we should turn to the composition and see what part it has in the effect of the picture.

It is obvious that Zander-Reinert often has an unusual focus on the forest landscape. For the most part, she shows only the trunks of the trees, which structure the picture surface and give it its own rhythm and structure.

What is striking about the "Winter Trees" is that the trunks branch out over the entire surface - but we only see a small part of the crown, if at all. Perhaps the bare tree in winter is a motif that immediately evokes a melancholy feeling in the viewer - but that is not what Zander-Reinert is concerned with. By compositionally emphasizing the dominant presence of the trunk in the picture, she shows the inner strength of the trees even in their winter torpor. She says, "Trees, tree trunks have always interested me, these mighty immovable trunks. This one is rooted deep in the earth in the winter, getting its strength."

You see, it is, as described, once the energy of the color encounter, which describes to us the vital force of nature - but it is also the reflected composition, about which the renewal forces become vivid.

In the picture "Duvenstedter Brook. Unterholz" this also becomes clear - this time in that Zander- Reinert gives us a glimpse of the forest landscape in the upper half of the picture - but leads us into the undergrowth in the lower half of the picture. We have the impression of a mysterious life, of biotopes that exist completely independent of humans in their own laws - just as the undergrowth at night belongs to the wild boars that you see in several other pictures. The powerful, impetuous nature of these depictions is compositionally conveyed by the fact that the animals seem too enormous for the picture area - they literally burst the frame.

Im Bild "Duvenstedter Brook. Unterholz" wird dies auch deutlich - diesmal, indem Zander-Reinert uns in der oberen Bildhälfte Einblick in die Waldlandschaft gewährt - uns in der unteren Bildhälfte allerdings ins Unterholz führt. Wir haben den Eindruck eines geheimnisvollen Lebens, von Biotopen, die vollkommen unabhängig von den Menschen in ihren eigenen Gesetzmäßigkeiten existieren - so, wie das Unterholz bei Nacht den Wildschweinen gehört, die Sie auf etlichen anderen Bildern sehen. Das Kraftvolle, Ungestüme vermittelt sich bei diesen Darstellungen kompositorisch darüber, dass die Tiere zu gewaltig scheinen für das Bildgeviert - sie sprengen im wahrsten Wortsinn den Rahmen.



Emile Zola says, "The artist puts himself in direct contact with nature, sees it in his own way, is penetrated by it, and then sends back its rays of light, which he refracts and colors like a prism, according to its nature."

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