SIEGFRIED KARRER
Galerie Weihergut Salzburg.
About a year ago I remember visiting the painter Bernhard Vogel in his atelier to arrange for a new exhibition. I noticed in one corner a small leaf of hand-made paper. It was a miniature aquarelle. I was immediately taken by it. I had known Vogel´s work as being very highly structured and here suddenly I found a composition where huge blocks of colour stood in stark contrast to each other , giving the impression that light was the main source of form in the picture. There was also a novel and uncompromising use of pure colours. The effect was that of a new dimension, a deeper perspective deriving from the spiritual and originating somewhere between colour-blocks and surfaces. Over and above the basic harmonies reigning between the individual colours new tones were beginning to ring out.
The "Salzburger Miniatures" cycle represents another important step in the development of Vogel´s work. The aquarelle painter from Salzburg achieves special effects of tension by making elaborate use of the miniature and employing highly modified motifs in combination with perspectives that open upwards in distorted intensifications. Very finely structured sections contrast with colour-blocks that fill large areas of the picture. In places the paper is not painted at all, its structure is left untouched. This, together with a very limited range of colours, serve to provide points of repose within the compositions.
Vogel´s development in this direction is closely connected with the kind of paper used. For this cycle he employs small, had-made sheafs of rag-paper, whose texture resembles the skin of animal - a real challenge for the artist. The normal technique of water-colour painting is spontaneous and implies a certain kind of "playing with chance", with colours and contrasts taking shape in a gentle, unconstrained manner. But here the artist has to submit to the concrete laws of painting where every use of paint has to be exact and of fixed purpose because corrections cannot be made afterwards. He first has to subdue the materials and break their resistance; he has to apply many layers of paint and press it, as it were, into the paper until it is ready to absorb it. After drying, the films of paint look like enamel surfaces. Because of the very rough structure of the paper it is practically impossible to achieve straight line, and this results in a very special and charming liveliness of form and pattern.
The "miniature" cycle is a wonderful response to these new challenges. It shows the unique effects that can be achieved by employing new materials and new techniques. There's no question of following a well-beaten path here. A creative process of painting is set in motion which is not - which cannot be - under the complete control of the artist.
The city of Salzburg, where Bernhard Vogel lives, is greatly influenced by its scenic setting. It is dominated by the high mountain peaks rising like sculptured artefacts from the surrounding plain. And the city in turn influences the way of seeing and felling. The "Salzburg Miniatures" cycle is a very beautiful representation of the real essence of Salzburg, eschewing conventional postcard motifs in favour of less obvious perspectives known only to the city's own children. Vogel, painter and native son of this city, knows Salzburg particularly well, and accepting the challenge of a very small canvas he has enthusiastically set about representing this theme in a manner that is both personal and passionate.
Ways to abstraction,
Colours and light,
A knowing, guessing,
Registering of feelings.
Church towers,
Sculptures on roof landscapes,
Meeting familiar forms
Not dead nor petrified.
The viewer feels and sees
Himself as a reflection,
As a part of this city.
Colours flame,
Beneath red roofs
blazes the fire,
Fire under the skin.
The city is in movement, glows,
Buildings become witnesses of the past.
The city becomes the bearer of emotions in the interplay of alternating moods of light. Both the painter and the viewer themselves become a part of the city, identifying themselves in the picture and forming a reflection and testimony of the city's past as it has developed over the centuries.
One of the most beautiful and perceptive comments on landscape aquarelles was made by Walter Koschatzky in his standard work entitled "Die Kunst des Aquarells" (The art of Aquarelles"). He wrote: "The development of the aquarelle brought with it even more: at a point where the flower of art was in full bloom it presented mankind with that which remains and can never pass away - meditation and fulfilment and a deep sense of longing in the perception of the beauty of this world."
Siegfried Karrer