Bernhard Vogel discovered his rare talent for art literally by accident. It was whilst he was recuperating from a near fatal motor cycle crash that he first picked up
a brush and found his own unique style of expression initially in the medium of watercolour.
Watercolour has often been seen as an amateur’s medium, the milieu of suburban Sunday afternoon hobbies, rather old fashioned and outdated. But this is far
from the truth, just look at the glorious gems produced by Turner and the contemporary pieces of Hockney. Watercolour is as relevant today as it always has been.
In spite of, or even because of our preconceptions, when an artist such as Bernhard Vogel reinvents the medium, the effect can be startling. Vogel’s work refuses the traditional and resists the academic approach. His work is instinctive, imbued with the vitality of a colourist and the drama of an expressionist. Vogel does not shy away from colour. He is bold and supremely confident in application. He delights in the brilliance of pure colour, taking this socalled polite medium to an extreme. The drips and sloshes, the ‘happy accidents’ heighten the effect, the patches of pure white from the paper create innumerableabstractions enabling him to paint negatively. There is chance and serendipity yet tempered with harmony and balance. There is a raw energy to the work, animmediacy and freshness that cannot fail to excite. This dramatic intensity is coupled with skilled draughtsmanship, the quirky lines, denoting railings or streetlamps, which not only add depth to the composition but also gives a sense of vibrancy to the scene. Vogel’s line and palette is the pulse to a city that is alive, a living breathing organism. What is interesting from an artist’s point of view is when the city appears to be sick and poorly.
In this new series of work, Vogel has produced powerful scenes of Venice, which are mixed media on canvas. These are truly remarkable pieces, where the interest
is not in the mere surface, the play of light and reflections on the canals, but in the psychological aspect of the city. Here the mood and tone is darker, the primary reds, blues, greens and yellows are in stark contrast to the black poles, buildings and boats, which serve as strong architectural and compositional devices. The surface is built up, layer upon layer, literally and metaphorically adding gravitas to the work.
We sense there is an undercurrent at work here, a gothic element, perhaps a reference to Thomas Mann’s classic ‘Death in Venice’, where Aschenbach in moral and physical decline wanders through the plague ridden city overwhelmed by a doomed love. The internal emotional power of these pieces is undeniable. These
unpopulated scenes have unsettling and somewhat unnerving quality to them. Vogel understands contemporary concerns, where beauty and decay are closely
entwined; he alludes to what is lurking just under the surface. His saturated palette, the surface texture and the use of collage makes for work that is open to
interpretation, thought provoking and ultimately challenging.
The range of subject matter and the experimentation of medium reflects an artist who is constantly exploring and pushing the boundaries of expression. There is
a musical, even operatic, quality to the work, a rhythm and cadence which is at times upbeat and joyous – a visual celebration of colour and life; at others, the
tempo is somewhat sombre, charting the mysteries of the human psyche.
The dynamic quality of this work is unmistakable. Representation in itself holds no interest for Vogel, he favours expressionistic freedom. Abandoning formal
constraints he paints with an unconfined vigour, yet skilfully retains control. Composition is key, even as the work blurs the boundaries between what we see and what we feel. Vogel has the assurance and confidence to be a truly great artist; his reworking of the traditional medium of watercolour and his complex and dense mixed media work reveals an artist with a distinctive voice, assertive and strong. Each piece can be seen a stage set, a tableau from which the high drama unfolds.
Benjamin Austin, May 2006