Gabriele Basch

"Weiss"


Preview Friday, February 28, 2003, 7pm - 9pm
Exhibition March 1 - April 12, 2003
Opening hours Wed - Fri 1pm - 7pm, Sat 1pm - 6pm



The paintings of the exhibition "White" show parts of an inner, dark and dreamlike world. The motifs seem to be concealed: a row of houses disappears against the light, and dissolves completely in the branches of the trees. Curtains prevent a view of the garden, and a plant struggles between flash-light and darkness. The motifs are neither realistic, nor pure imagination, but they are evolved from a multitude of snapshots. Regarded as photographs, these range from unspectacular to failed. They are macro shots of an everyday micro cosmos, and serve as a starting point for the painted images.

It is important for Gabriele Basch that there is an optical oscillation between what the eye adds and what is actually to be seen and between the degree of representation and the formal proceeding in the painting. The means of painting, e.g. white areas or stains, are working against an illusionistic use of colour. The colours are not related to the represented image. They are reduced and partly converted into negative. Dispersed spots of glossy varnish are eye-catching and generate a depth that leads to projections. This is intensified by the technique of blurring as well as superimposition and fade-out.

These paintings are like disturbing dream worlds, everything is only suggested, nothing is clearly defined. In this case, painting does not function as a medium for narration, but allows the spectator to imagine a timeless inner space. And hereby they turn real for a short moment.