desertification - arid climate is expanding

"NEW CLIMATE", oil/desert sand on canvas, 2018, 80 x 100 cm

"ENERGY Walking", acrylics/pigments on canvas, diptych, 2017, 100 x 160 cms

Come for a walk with me: The results summarized in the two drawings, collages, give off an image of the Sahara in the deepest Akakus mountains, as it must have been up to around 8000 years ago. They show images drawn on the spot from rock paintings and carvings of humans and animals, scenes of contemporary life on the ground, extracts from at about 23 km in length found petroglyphs, and if there was such a life, so there must have been a corresponding vegetation which nourished them all. Hence over the years constantly increasing drought has led to desertification. But also, on the other hand, this desert region is a feast for the eyes both in the rock and the sand dune formation, and of course also applies to the extreme lighting conditions. The imagination knows no boundaries here.

Here are my thoughts on the subject of light (as also read out during the opening ceremony of my 2010 exhibition 'WinterMEERchen'):

Herannahender Abend im Akakusgebirge, Libyen, Aquarell 2009

"To bundle light and capture it,

To let light flow as colors into images:

This is my game

Are not we all children of light?

Air reflects light

The sea water even more

It makes the earth glow

In the desert it even burns

where the sun scorches so much.

This 'phenomenon' s benefit is also positive

Concentrated light would set free solar energy

Light Light Light - do not forsake us "


Be the then following flowers and plant images a contrast, showing as it could have been, had not the desertification due to climate change, progressed so cruelly and as such led to extiinction of almost all life in the whole region.

DESERT GOES OCEAN - OCEAN GOES DESERT

This triptych was exhibited in the BAGL-SPRINGtime in Berlin in 2011, created and also exhibited in the old monastery of St. Anna in der Wüste (Naturpark Mannersdorf Wüste, Austria) during the Mannersdorfer Kreativsommer, experimental painting. The effect of liquid water part, I achieved by applying extremely wet acrylic paint and throwing the canvas on the lawn to dry in the strong hot summer sun. Spilling also the applied sand in the watery area of ​​the image and letting it dry like this, developed the desired effect.

..from the studio to the above pictures

Some watercolor paintings were created sitting on the ground in the desert in front of my tent, more pictures in egg tempera or acrylic with Sahara sand incorporated, are studio pictures created using locally-defined sketches. Lately I'm always carrying with me my 'little Reisemalbüchlein'.

The image of contrast called 'Mandelbäumchen', was created on the spot on the Donnerskirchner wine route, in Burgenland, Austria, here are my impressions (free translation:

"I find it standing at the edge of my way

in full bloom out of control

I meet and admire it

in softest pink its bloom

"I want to be put on your paper", it whispers to me

so I give in and stay painting it here"


The "Bildeiche", a well over 100 years old oak tree, stands at the Leitha Mountains between Kaisersteinbruch and Breitenbrunn. I had to climb down from the road to have the best possible direct view to paint it, a strong place of power. The "Zauberwald" is Leitha Mountain woods. "Ölbaumtraum" came to life on the hills near San Felice on Lake Garda. "Frühling siegt" stands for spring, its victory over gloomy winter, shows how its light is constantly creating new life. Every little seedling grows just trusting that no one destroys it.