Author: Carolin Rosner

Marion Gamerschlag’s art is an experience of tangible plasticity: you can feel her impulse movement in the layers of the color pigments. The paintings evolution process is characterized by the artist’s very physical way of expression and gives her artwork an idiosyncratic energy. The paint is applied with fingers, hands, palms and arms. She rubs, presses, wipes – often lying on the paper – as if she´d danced over the painting. Sometimes this ballerina even scratches and tears the surface with her nails or with pointed objects: tender, dull – and depending on her inner state of mind – occasionally impetuous, wild, incessantly in seemingly endless circles, almost until the destruction of the color body. The result is polychrome, powdery structured, multiply painted surfaces that fascinate the viewer. The artist, born in 1966, has been working in the art workshop since 2012.

Erhard Post’s powerful drawings enable the viewer to engage with the artist’s world, his life and thoughts. Human figures, animal representations, other creatures and self-portraits reveal things experienced and perceived. His figures are expressed in bright oil pastels, setting them with high-contrast and flat on the often colored paper. He composes them with an eloquent color choice. The result is strong figures with colored faces, defensive character heads, life-affirming. They fill his paintings as impressive (human) beings and stare the viewer straight-on. In portraits or in dynamically composed smaller group formations of 3-5 figures, Erhard Post’s paintings explain how he perceives himself and the world. Born in 1955, the artist has been working since 2013 in the Art Workshop of the Day Center of the Albert Schweitzer Stiftung – Wohen & Betreuen.

The pictures of Haci Sami Yaman are contrasty compositions of dots, strokes, lines and calligraphic elements, seemingly following certain rules that are not immediately comprehensible. They form patterns, structures and streams that are compellingly unique. The drawings are virtually vibrating and appear as though they are charged with different meanings and pulsating energies. At the same time, his pictures are reminiscent of aerial views or sketches by landscape architects. The dynamic configuration of the images is even more impressive when you know that Yaman, who has been working in the Atelier for a almost two years, is almost completely blind. He uses a special kind of acrylic pen for his work. When applying the paint, the artist is able to orient himself by pushing the pens forcefully or by tapping. With the effort he puts into his paintings, Yaman suggests underlying theories of energies, operating modes and other philosophical-technical constructions of thoughts. “He speaks of systems, switches, planets, of complex interactions, of streams and electrification,” explains Paula Schmidt-Dudek, artistic director of the Open Atelier St. Hedwig. “His pictures are connections, pixelations, data processing. He describes levels and areas, programming and amplifiers.”