Palette-Made: Art Photography AND Art Painting

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This article is about figural and abstract, perception, hunches and Inspiration, Objet trouvé and ready-mades as well as photography and painting in oil: palette-mades!

Palette-mades: Perception, Hunches and Inspiration

Men, animals or a mythical creature arise from amorphous masses. Are this landscapes, or simply abstract structures? Interpretations of the artwork seem to be arbitrary.

A colored hawk, a horse with wings, a mountain? Different spectators can see varying things. Point of view or illumination change the perception like the daily form of the beholder.

New visions, new meanings spring from the mind. They seem to depend on culture and experiences of the viewer. The perceived can change with the duration of the observation and can even be a different one next time.

A golem or a penis, asparagus or eagle, a laboratory vessel or a landscape? The pictures elude any kind of simplistic interpretation and challenge viewers to enter into an intellectual exchange.

Palette-made is Objet trouvé, Ready-made

At the beginning of the 20th century Marcel Duchamp’s opinions challenged the art world: He thought, that the selection of an object was already art, an objet trouvé. Marcel Duchamp signed a bicycle and a urinal as fountain among others and declared them to be ready-mades. No wonder he thought oil paintings were redundant.

For me, painting is outdated. It is a waste of energy. We now got photography.

— Marcel Duchamp

The photography as a documentation of everyday life got art itself.

Palette-mades are there – they just have to be found. They are an objet trouvé, they are ready-made.

Palette-mades are a Contribution to abstract Photography

Since photography and videos have been invented, painting has been declared dead again and again. Photography and video seemed to be more contemporary, more flexible and more seminal. Many major exhibitions still show everything, except paintings.

But time has changed the relation of painting to newer media. Photography is widely-used since more than a century. Today, millions of pictures and videos are made and spread every day.

Time to discuss similarities. Turner price winner Wolfgang Tillmans tries to integrate aspects of painting in his photographs with his „Abstract Pictures”. The photographer Thomas Ruff said years ago, that photographs show a frozen moment and do not represent reality. This meant photography had lost its alleged advantage, but Ruff does not care:

Painting also has long been said to be dead and still lives – merrily

— Thomas Ruff

Painting is not limited to brushes and colors. It is also about concept, composition and coincidence.

Palette-mades result from painting, but not on the canvas but unintentional aside on the palette.

The art herein is to find areas of potential, to develop figural from abstract. The other way round it long time has been the mainspring of painters to abstract portraits, landscapes and stills from their natural appearance.

Monet, van Gogh, Picasso, the Cubists, Braquists, blue riders and Francis Bacon wanted to let colors and forms flow only restricted by a certain idea of presentation. Tradition was ruptured with abstract approaches.

Palette-made: Photography AND Painting in Oil

Palette-Made ruptures photography tradition in a similar way.

The photographs of the set Palette-Made turn a painter’s palette into abstract or figurative art. It starts with an arbitrary composition with a color dimension and three spatial dimensions. Colored planes reside next to each other or meander into each other, carry the spectator with them or calm down the eyes. Lines or points cover or cross each other or are lost in melee.

Opportunities are restricted by the painted subject and the nature and amount of colors used. With closer inspection, traces of the brushes get visible. Brush-overs show the direction the brushes were used and how wet the color was.

Photographs of the painter’s palette form the basis. Extracts, brightness, saturation and sharpness are the instruments and are vital for a balanced composition.

How it developed

At the beginning there was Instagram with a myriad of filters: Arden, Hefe, Lark, Ludwig and Mayfair distilled pictures from photographs. Daily fitness defined publishing times, Instagram friends eliminated the wheat from the chaff.

I received some inquiries to buy work in 2016 which I turned down. The quality oft the prints from Instagram on my mobile phone camera was not sufficient.

I continued experimentation with a better camera. To further improve the quality of the photos I bought even more equipment, had a lot of interesting discussions, learned and started from scratch. I hope to be able to focus on new subjects soon.

For Sale

For best sharpness palette-mades are printed at 300 dpi, the long edge limited to 84,1 cm or 33,1 inch. It is available at 150 Euro excluding frame.

This price includes the shipment within Germany and 7% German pre-tax. Conditions for international delivery can differ, since transportation cost, customs and taxes vary by country.

Please contact me in case of interest

Payment is due before shipment. PayPal customer protection is available.

Returns have to be claimed within two weeks and are possible only for none damaged, re-usable pictures. Return postage has to be paid by the customer.

All pictures oft he set are limited to six editions plus two artist proofs.