Birgit Huttemann-Holz
Detroit- Inside the Pioneer
Building, studio 303, February 2014
It is still frigid outside, a city
frozen almost solid. I open the door to my sanctuary, turn on the light, plug
in my electric tools, and turn on the heater.
I connect my IPod, listen a moment
to myself, select the music and turn up the volume. Ready! I step into the
U-form of my working space. It surrounds me and allows me to concentrate on my
art, not finding things. On the right are my paint griddle and electric
skillets, my pigments and waxy brushes.
On my left are oil paints, oil
sticks, oil pastels, and brushes with a blue tape on their handle. The blue
tape reminds me to not dip them in wax! For now, directly in front of me, is a
large architectural drawing table placed horizontally position. About 5 meters
behind me stands a large mirror. I only have to turn around to get a distant
glance of my painting so that I can view and critique my work. One, no,
two more things - I coat my hands with barrier cream and fasten the apron behind
my back. Maybe that is my daily routine. Every other move is dictated by my
soul, and my dreams. I am talking about my work - it’s a love affair!
Today, I went downtown before coming
to the studio and bought some cobalt blue oil paint. I can’t wait to get my
hands into that startling deep blue. Yes, “Mother Nature is my competition!” I
start with clear encaustic layers on my wooden panel. I torch, scrape
away the excess wax with my razorblades and start anew. After two layers I add
some pigments to my wax. Layer after layer I build the foundation, then the
background, it is now that I and set the temperament of the painting.
Then I start
with the outlines and followed by shadows. Today, it is black, straight from
the tube, oil, glistening, as thick as my pinky, a bit of linseed oil, pouring,
generous and then brush work: Bold, playful, but with many exclamation marks!!
It’s a dance that only just begins. I turn and add wax again, burnt umber on
top. And so it goes back and forth. In between, I fuse everything with my
Iwatani torch, a furious little thing. I do not use propane. I use butane, a
very hot merciless flame, a flame for the impatient, impetuous dare devil.
Firedrake!
Now, the detail - cobalt blue of
course! I push the oily paint directly on my fingertips - sometimes, I am
wearing gloves, but not today! It is a sensory overload. I flick the paint, smear, set accents, wipe ,
mix, add wax , torch it, burn in, let it pool, scrape away, cover, reveal.
It is my ‘Fascinosum’. And the best
of all? Gestural painting! Movement, storm, impact, sweeping, bulging, ripping
apart, prying open, with a high arc flying across the plane.
Mighty paintings – ‘Sturm und Drang’
(storm and stress) - they plea: Be careful! At the same time they wave you over
and whisper: Come join! Be unrestrained!
An abstract landscape. Cross-border
breed, lyrical, upside down. Scratched, incised agitation, reflection,
fly-fishing for urgrunds (primal cause or ultimate cosmic principle).
Rising water. A falling flower bud
will slay you! Beauty and abyss! Excessive curiosity, spellbound, trance.
Birgit Huttemann-Holz
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