Dietmar Brixy, GROW
Altes Pumpwerk Mannheim - Neckarau,
23. September - 21. Oktober 2007

When Ulrike Lehmann opened the 2006 exhibition of Brixy’s paintings entitled “Roundness” here in the Altes Pumpwerk last September, she already pointed towards this year’s event in her final words by saying: “We can look forward to the next year and will be curious to see which themes and forms will surprise us in Brixy’s art.”

Whether we like it or not, this (next) year has come and we are here to witness the fourth stage in a series of exhibitions which enable us to follow the continuous development of Dietmar Brixy’s artistic work. These autumnal presentations taking place every year allow us to see how some pictorial themes have developed, which new ones have been added and which old ones given up, how specific colour patterns have been altered by fresh accents thus giving expression to different moods and affecting the format of the paintings in different ways.

Moreover, these yearly exhibitions are an opportunity to look back on past achievements and to take stock, an impressive balance again – as in the past years: At the end of last year Dietmar Brixy showed his paintings in Michael Heufelder’s art gallery in Munich, this spring the Iserlohn art gallery Bengelsträter showed him at the Karlsruhe ART Fair. In April and May, together with an Italian artist, he was invited by the Chinese art gallery Zezhong to present his work in Bejing, and because of the success of this exhibition their cooperation will continue and Brixy’s next paintings are already on their way to China.

Two more of his paintings will travel equally long distances soon, because the cruise liner “Aida” to be launched in February 2008 has already purchased them. Promising a bright future this contact was made by the Bielefeld art gallery Samuelis Baumgarte. At the moment Dietmar Brixy – qualifying for this year’s Albert-Haueisen Prize – is exhibiting in the Palatinate town of Jockgrim, and in November art gallery Bengelstraeter will present his latest paintings at the Cologne Artfair 21. All of us wish him a lot of luck for this! But let us turn to the exhibition which is opening today: As the invitation card has signalled already, Dietmar Brixy presents us for the first time with paintings summarily entitled “GROW”. In the German language this means to grow, increase, develop, and this can be truly said of last year’s successful balance as well as of his new paintings [which we will turn to in a moment]. However, to grow also means cultivating, planting, breeding – a gardener’s habitual activities. Brixy is a passionate gardener as well as a passionate painter, and the two passions are related to each other. Last year’s exhibition which was entitled “Roundness” literally presented round pictures, so-called tondi, which playfully rolled about the walls of this former pumping station like colourful marbles or soap bubbles. This year’s paintings are mostly square – either vertical or landscape formats – which give expression to a more rigorous and concentrated character.

Take as an example the largest painting by far in this exhibition measuring 2.40 metres in height and 5.40 metres in width. It shows a winter landscape, a snow-covered field on which bamboo plants grow. Some of the paintings created last year could similarly be called “Winter Bamboo Charm”. So, is there nothing new, Mr Brixy? Far from it!!! The paintings are rather proof of the [enormously] wide scope of artistic possibilities which a single theme offers to the artist if he succeeds again and again in approaching it with a fresh perception. This new bamboo landscape cannot be compared to any other of Brixy’s earlier works, because here the painter has conquered the pictorial space – in a literal sense of the verb.

No longer do the bamboo stems throng against a multicolour flat background, but they open up wide vistas making us perceive a snow-covered clearing. Unlike in earlier paintings where the bamboo were intertwined, here the painter intentionally arranged them separately making them take up the entire height of the picture without ending visibly either upwards or downwards, whereas others only occupy part of the pictorial space. This intentionally narrow spacing allows Dietmar Brixy to evoke the impression of a greatly impressive depth.

With the exception of two diagonals which form a wide arch curving generously across the painting, the individual bamboo stems are positioned in a line strictly parallel to the vertical frame, thus giving the picture a severity unique in Brixy’s work so far.

The reduced colour scheme supports the same tenor gaining its specific effect from a carefully planned process of painting: At first, as the picture’s basis, Brixy covered the whole space of the canvas in black–first using a spatula, then linseed oil and a wallpaper brush. Then he allowed thin colour streaks of oxblood red, mustard-yellow and pale blue to trickle down the whole canvas from top to bottom – a painstakingly slow activity which asked for a lot of concentration and which, as he said himself, was of a strongly meditative character. After the colours had dried, the painter covered the whole space by white using his hands, and finally, Brixy placed the individual bamboo stems in black and van Dyck-brown using his hands again, then finally uncovering the basic layers of colour with a spatula. This complex process creates a strong relief and so heightens the spatial effect of the painting.

The same sense of perspective is also found in the pictures of alleys. In my opinion, this new development gives these paintings a decisively novel momentum. Narrow paths tapering in the distance are lined by bamboo stems, thus creating a strong sense of perspective. The bamboo growth is so dense that the eye cannot perceive a single gap right or left. This focuses the attention of the viewer on the path itself which leads him directly towards the upper middle of the picture taking his thoughts with it into the distance. The atmosphere of these paintings may vary widely, sometimes creating the impression of a dreamy and wintery calm, sometimes alienated by hallucinatory garish colours. But the artist’s newly awakened interest in spatial effects also discloses a new approach to content. The age-old symbol of paths/roads for man’s journey through life, man’s movements through time and space, link these pictures to the theme of growing and development which dominates this exhibition.

The second meaning of the title “GROW” hinted at briefly earlier on and referring to planting and cultivating finds its expression in the splendid flower paintings which have such strange names as “Hello Darkness”, “Champagne Elegance” or “Skating Party”. These names do not spring from the artist’s linguistic imagination, but they designate specific types of irises which Brixy has planted in his splendid garden and which were promoted to pictorial motives last year. These iris flowers are staged as enormous protagonists in his paintings, partly painted in luxuriously magnificent colours, partly in surprisingly reticent colour schemes. The realistic appearance of the plant and sometimes also photographs of its various stages of growth may stimulate the pictures, but the naturalistic model is finally transcended and translated into pure painting.

The complementary contrast of greenish yellow and deep violet colours creates the tension in the series of paintings called “Hello Darkness”. This contrast of colours being immensely effective in itself is intensified by the sprinkles of pink and light violet. The iris flower presents itself in profile, either magnified many times or seen from above directly showing the flower’s heart.

In these paintings Brixy also renounces the brush. Instead, with both hands he digs deeply into the colour pots distributed everywhere in the studio and applies the colours in the strict sense of the word directly – and probably also sensually – onto the canvas.

It cannot be said with certainty that this artistic process is related to the gardener’s hands also always covered in earth. But it is certain that the origin of these paintings is deeply rooted in Brixy’s garden surrounding the Pumpwerk, a garden which is always a reason to be pleased to get an invitiation, to be honest. More and more this garden cannot be separated from his art of painting. It is hard to distinguish whether it is the artist rather than the gardener who orders these not exactly inexpensive iris bulbs from the catalogue. And who knows whether the painter is thinking more of his garden or of future paintings in doing so?

The history of art presents many examples which prove the productive relationship of these two passions, because it allows the artist to arrive at the frequently desired synthesis of art and nature. Particularly at the time of the turn of the century round the year 1900, many artists discovered their own gardens as an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

For example, Claude Monet declared round 1895: “Rien au monde ne m’intéresse que ma peinture et mes fleurs.” – Nothing in the world interests me more than my painting and my flowers. For many years he cultivated his garden at Giverny with his own hands, created the pond of water lilies and painted his most famous pictures in the open air or in his studio which was directly beside the pond.

In 1907 August Macke wrote to his wife Elisabeth: “I will probably not take a studio as the major activity at the moment will now take place outside. The inside colours are honestly too lousy for someone who has seen Monet! (…) I think I could work in your garden best. At present it seems my greatest ideal.”

In 1910 Max Liebermann moved into his villa at Lake Wannsee near Berlin and planned a large garden with it. As with Monet this artistically arranged garden stretching down three terraces became the major motive of Liebermann’s last years – we owe it more than 200 paintings.

Finally, Paul Klee asked: “What do I care for God’s essence? Look at some of his flowerbeds, this is enough.”

And this is how this introduction will end. Surrounded by Dietmar Brixy’s garden as well as by his new paintings I wish you visually enjoyable hours.

Anuschka Koos