Luc Palmer has the ability to reduce what he sees and looks at in his paintings to the essentials: In form and color; in the relationship of objects and figures to one another; in spatial dimensions that eliminate fixations on the foreground and draw attention to the background.
His pictures are often made up of several clearly differentiated levels.
He is precise in where he wants to direct the viewer’s attention.
In the foreground, minimalist portraits with shimmering white brushstrokes may capture the first glance; sometimes impasto (perhaps non-objective) lines, eyes, teeth, dog heads may dominate. Or shoes positioned as if for a run into the depths.
The compositions and technical variety entice the viewer to approach and explore the middle ground and background: Abstract, finely structured or representational, painted in subtle blurriness. The application of paint – often acrylic and oil on canvas – is multi-layered and multi-tonal, with delicate nuances that are almost old-masterly at times. It is delicate painting.
Palmer creates dense atmospheres, designs new contexts of meaning and challenges prevailing viewing habits.
The pictures stimulate curiosity and the joy of discovery. Even, or perhaps especially, when recognizing contrasts that may be irritating and may initially be perceived as inconsistencies.
His works create inner tension in the viewer – but at the same time encourage contemplation; trigger resonance; unfold an idiosyncratic power, sensual and contemplative, sometimes melancholic, yet delicate but not cautious.
Dualisms emerge. A coherence of the pictorial elements is difficult to discern – an alternative, meaningful context seems to be left to the viewer.
Nevertheless, and despite the almost morbid depictions, harmony, beauty and tenderness can dominate and take hold – as in Palmer’s still lifes.
Luc Palmer born 1995 in Stuttgart, 2015 – 2022 studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, lives and works in Vienna.
Alexander Föllenz impresses with powerful, moving sculptures that intervene in space. They are complex structures built with steel, wood, plastic, acrylic, graphite, magnets and electronic mechanisms. They are reminiscent of iconic motifs from art history and convey eternal themes of humanity. The energy they radiate creates a direct relationship with the viewer that no one can escape. For example with “Devotion” or the “Venus” he created.
The figures have something sublime about them, but the impression is immediately put into perspective by the fact that they are presented as if they were standing on their feet.* Föllenz always meets us with a good dash of humor. In this way, the great themes of humanity can be taken up with a wink, i.e. more light-heartedly – the entanglement in circumstances and constraints, power and powerlessness, self-assertion and the striving for freedom, desires for protection, belonging and – nevertheless – uniqueness. Life and death.
Föllenz produces hybrids: heroes who have to suffer for their hubris, bound and tortured titans, martyrs. In their puppet-like figurativeness, they have no individuality. They are abstract prototypes, appear as cybogs controlled by technology and confront us with the fundamental question of whether free will exists and, if so, how far it might reach.
Föllenz sees his figurative works as sculptural performances. His own body serves him as “source material”. The alienation varies with the respective narrative. The ‘replicants’ act as statuary embodiments of complex, constantly recurring inner-psychological processes. The artist aims to playfully provoke reflection, which opens up space for insight and ultimately for personal liberation from previously unrecognized thought patterns and constraints.
Alexander Föllenz born 1986 in Koblenz, studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, lives and works in Düsseldorf.