Author: Matthias Hofmann

The self-taught artist (b. 1968 Halle/Saale GER) works mostly with acrylics on canvas or paper at the moment after having focused for years on collages, linoleum- and woodcuts. His pasty paintings often depict humans or figures resembling angels. With a special pen and great graphic talent he shoves aside the soft paint. The dark priming color appears and gives contours to his characters. Their heads, hands or limbs fill up the pictorial space disproportionally, which bestows them a unique energy and spontaneity. When the artist works with a contrast-rich and wild color palette his figures are reminiscent of Basquiat or they resemble – when he uses more delicate white, gray and pastel tones – Paul Klee’s angel drawings.

Peter Padubrin-Thomys deliberately chooses an outsider art or art brut approach for his acrylic paintings: they appear sketch-like and bizarre, raw and color-intensive. His figures emanate an aura with a magic appeal. Placed alone or in groups they develop a fascinating, dreamy and mysterious effect. They float through the image and appear to relate to each other meaningfully and don’t seem to follow any common rules. Oftentimes the figures reach their oversized hands or limbs towards the other or communicate with another like in the untitled motif from the series “In Pantoffeln durch die Träume” (“Through the Dreams in Slippers”). In some kind of game strong forms of expression occur. Other titles (like e.g. “Zwei Väter” “Two Fathers” or “Der Hüter der Herde” “The Guardian of the Herd”), which are sometimes written into the painting by the artist, give further clues to the content of the depicted figures or complement them imaginatively.

A naïve prevailing mood resonates through the pictures. At a closer look however it becomes obvious that Peter Padubrin-Thomys develops a special impetus – between mind and matter, inside and outside worlds, lightness and depth.

Using delicate embroidery on scrap fabrics and other materials, the artist creates raw and playful images. As a child, Anthony Stevens was already surrounded by textiles. Years later, he decided to use a needle and thread as his form of creative expression. His work is made distinct by figurative and comic style portrayals that are embroidered on his chosen fabric and partly sewn together with many layers, out of many different pieces of fabric. His visual perceptions are playful and full of subtext that can be deciphered by the written comments that compliment the figures. The artist, who has studied Nichiren Buddhism, explains that he sees the images in his mind’s eye while chanting the mantra, “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.” Roughly translated, the meaning is: “I devote myself to the supreme law of the universe.” During his embroidery work process, the motives develop several levels of meaning. They convey worldly wisdoms or formulated criticism, e.g. consumer behavior in “Black Friday.” In the visual world of Anthony Stevens one can find the amusing, the wondering, and the threatening, as in the recurring motives of a dog, a crowned bird, of penises or combat boots and hand grenades in “Brute Force.” As work material the artist quite intentionally chooses scraps of fabric or stripes and sees himself in the position to find potential in what may seem useless or beyond repair. With this decision, the autodidact sees a very important parallel to his own partly traumatic life and experiences, which he realizes in his works, and describes as “dancing with (his) inner dynamics” – always in search of a constructive rhythm. Anthony Stevens’ works have been shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions in et al. Frankfurt, Brighton and London.

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Abram Wilhelm was born 1944 in Amsterdam, grew up in the Netherlands and lived through several personal crises. His childhood was defined by hunger, hard physical work and the experience of sexual abuse. With the age of 21 he arrived in Germany and started a family. His wife committed suicide in 1981, followed by his son, who took his life 16 years later.

In his art Abram Wilhelm found a crisis response. His sorrows and the extreme experiences are reflecting in the intense works created by this outsider artist. He utilizes different media and a large variety of materials, creates paintings, drawings, collages and sculptures for which he sometimes uses found objects, for example parts of a wooden bed or cigar boxes. His creations, which the artist usually draws completely naked, remind of Hieronymus Bosch. Weightless figures, like the “Insektenhexe“ (insect witch) or „Krakenfrau“ (kraken woman) are hovering through color spaces in which you can find religious or mythical references at times. His works show stomata, body fluids, excrements. As a viewer you sense instinctively that Wilhem is not interested in any sort of affected provocation. Thematically he references “on sexuality, but also on anger”, but never to shock or create a sensation of disgust. In his wildly glowing color palette he creates works primarily for himself, fills every corner of his house with them. They are an invitation to feel an artist’s reception who managed to transform his great experienced sorrow into a highly expressive oeuvre that knows of no taboos or boarders. After his turbulent live Abram Wilhelm trusts his inspirational slogan “Great expectations are waiting for those who follow their soul.”

You can find further information about Abram Wilhelm: www.artbram.de