Original artwork description:

Michael Thümmrich, born in Lörrach in 1953. Between 1975 and 1980 he trained as a graphic artist at the general arts and crafts school in Basel. In this context training as a draftsman and first attempts as a painter. Since 1981 working as a freelance graphic artist and painter.

IT IS WHAT IT IS - PAINTING AS AN OFFER

My painting is what it is: paint, paper, canvas - and myself as a painter. It is a self-questioning, neither world-explaining nor self-explaining. So it is not initially a message to third parties and does not arise with the view of the possible observer.

Nevertheless, what I paint and how I paint it is also an offer to the viewer. It invites him to get involved in something he does not yet know. Without specification. This can be difficult and challenging. And it demands a decision: the decision to focus on your senses and rely on your senses. Without conceptual and thematic “holding ropes”.

The viewer is addressed in his individuality and in the autonomy of his own judgment, taken seriously and respected.

When, shaped by his own experiences, he sets off and begins to think about what he sees and to interpret it, then the viewer appropriates the picture in the sense of the word. The picture "multiplies" in individual perceptions and interpretations. In the course of time, one and the same person can definitely come to different results of the observation, to different interpretations. And the emotional impact of a picture can change, just as changing emotional states and changing experiences can, conversely, change the way you look at a picture. I take this from the statements of people who live with my pictures.

Talking about my pictures often gives me a new perspective on my work. It inspires me and gives me new impulses. A dialogue can arise that has an impact on my work. This closes a circle between painter, picture and viewer.

I am happy to offer this dialogue to the visitors of my exhibitions and the viewers of my painting, and I look forward to it.

Michael Thümmrich

Materials used:

mixed Media

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