Dieter Balzer, Jürgen Paas, Willi Siber – Farbrausch

Die drei Künstler Dieter Balzer, Jürgen Paas und Willi Siber haben vieles gemeinsam. Sie arbeiten abstrakt. Sie verwenden industriell gefertigte Materialien wie PVC-Bänder, MDF-Platten und Stahlformen, Spezial-Folien und Pulverlacke, die sie zweckentfremdet und in handwerklicher Perfektion einsetzen. Sie experimentieren abseits der Funktionalität mit den spezifischen Eigenschaften der Materialien und stellen die ästhetische Komponente in den Vordergrund. In diesem Aufwertungsprozess agieren alle drei Künstler verschwenderisch mit dem Einsatz von Farbe.

In der Auseinandersetzung mit der Wechselwirkung von Farbe, Form, Oberfläche und Licht kommen sie jedoch zu ganz unterschiedlichen Ergebnissen – vom intellektuellen Dialog bis zur emotionalen Überwältigung – und bereichern so den Diskurs der grenzenlosen Skulptur heute.

Die Stern-Wywiol Galerie stellt in der Ausstellung Farbrausch Dieter Balzer erstmals vor und zeigt neue Werke ihrer Galeriekünstler Jürgen Paas und Willi Siber.

Dieter Balzer steht in der Tradition der konkreten Kunst. Er zerschneidet MDF-Platten und konstruiert daraus streng geometrische, architektonisch anmutende Objekte für Wand und Raum. Sie heißen Horizontale, Orthogonale oder Konjunktion. Diese beklebt Dieter Balzer mit Farbfolien, die in ihrer Passgenauigkeit die Verstrebungen der MDF-Konstruktionen zwar nachbilden, diese in ihrer Farbigkeit aber konterkarieren. Das Eigenleben der Farbe hebt so die Materialität des Objekts auf und überführt den Gegenstand ins Geistige, Konkrete.

Jürgen Paas stellt seine neue TARGET-Serie vor. Farbige PVC-Bänder fügen sich spiralförmig aneinander zu plastischen Wand- und Bodenobjekten. Grundsätzlich dem Minimalismus verhaftet, bleibt Jürgen Paas in der Form stets klar und geometrisch. Zusätzlich verleiht er dem Objekt aber in der Farbigkeit malerische Qualitäten, die ins Psychedelische gleiten. Der Gegenstand wird gleichzeitig mit psychologischen wie technischen Assoziationen verknüpft und so inhaltlich aufgeladen.

Willi Siber arbeitet mit Spezial-Lacken und Pigmenten, Industriestahl und Epoxidharz. Seine Formen scheinen jenseits physikalischer Gesetze zu schweben. Sie lassen Wachstum und Bewegung assoziieren und bringen die Farbe zu maximaler Wirkung. Die Farbe führt ein Eigenleben und ist absolut gesetzt – inhaltlich wie formal. Die technisch schier unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten des HiTec-Industriezeitalters verbinden sich mit Elementen aus Pop, Postmoderne und Dekonstruktion zu einer ebenso ungewöhnlichen wie verführerischen Mischung.

For a few weeks now, I've had an interesting view every day on the S-Bahn:

I travel through a very beautiful part of Hamburg, where individual houses are nestled in lush greenery. The railway line has been there for almost 150 years and over time all the houses have aligned themselves with its course. Without exception, all the houses stand parallel to the railway tracks. Now the pressure to build in Hamburg is enormous and older, average houses are increasingly being demolished and replaced by new ones. They are always larger than their predecessors and the permeability between the houses decreases. This certainly makes economic sense, but is aesthetically very boring. And now the interesting view: A small detached house is replaced by a much larger cube with flats, the plot now looks small. BUT: the cube is out of line! It leaves the old scheme and is offset by perhaps 15-20 degrees in the row, breaking up the symmetry. It becomes mobile and appears lighter than it actually is. It offers different alignment lines than the houses to its right and left. This makes it dynamic, it makes it interesting. Because our brain hates monotony and craves variety. It wants to work, develop and try out new perspectives.

And, as you might have guessed, this is precisely what Dieter Balzer utilises in his art.

Dieter Balzer constructs complex three-dimensional objects from the most minimal of basic materials - MDF squared timber and lightfast special foil - and from the aesthetic ingredients of line, right angle and smooth colour.
Balzer uses the simplest basic geometric forms, based on the square as the archetypal form of minimalist/concrete art.

- repeatedly stacked, mirrored, rotated
- repeatedly composed of different colours
- b/w as orientation points

- plays with surface and space
- Colours dematerialise the space
- Interspaces and shadows create the space

Dieter Balzer does not abstract anything that exists in material reality, he materialises something spiritual - principles such as variation, rhythm, colour.

With all this, you don't need any special art education to begin with:
your brain kicks into high gear when you try to understand the interweaving of the construction, the interaction of the colours.

When comparing proportions and colour values, half the history of art is running in the background and you will learn much more than you realise.
Come back five more times or look at the works from your sofa - you won't be able to reproduce them and will always discover new connections.

Dieter Balzer works out his designs on the PC with millimetre precision
He would be doomed to failure or would need months to complete a work if he were to create such complex and balanced microcosms intuitively at the workbench alone:

Dieter Balzer
came into contact with this kind of microcosm as a teenager. He was born in Neuhofen in the Palatinate in 1959 and grew up in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, where the Wilhelm Hack Museum is located 200 metres from his grammar school. This museum has an excellent collection of geometric-abstract art with works by artists such as Malevich, Mondrian and Max Bill. It was here that the young Dieter Balzer got his first inkling of what the art of reduction might be all about. He then studied philosophy and art history in Heidelberg and art in England and Norway and lives as a freelance artist in Berlin. He exhibits in museums, art associations and galleries, has a loyal fan base in New York and we are sure that we can also inspire the people of Hamburg with his work.

Jürgen Paas is already well known to the people of Hamburg from his solo exhibition here at the gallery two years ago.

The exhibition title FARBRAUSCH is to be taken quite literally with his latest works, the TARGETS.

Our eyes are not physiologically capable of recognising spirals as a static arrangement of lines. Our brain automatically creates a circular movement from the stimuli it receives; it creates its own reality. In the past, LSD was used for such excursions, but here with us it is completely risk-free.

JP adds his colours to this reality, which he selects beforehand in a certain colour family, a certain overall tone.

In the working process, he then builds up the TARGETS from the outside inwards in an intuitive working process, allowing himself to be driven to a certain extent by the work itself and also giving in to spontaneous ideas.

Like Dieter Balzer, he works with industrially produced raw materials, in this case coloured PVC tapes.

Also on show is the new series of drumsticks. Classic painting on plywood. Could become a new series of works. Some people can hear paintings - I would be curious to see what is being played here.

Maybe it's the toot for his approaching 60th birthday! To mark the occasion, an exhibition tour of numerous art associations, museums and galleries will begin next year.

Jürgen Paas has asked me to tell you the following about his works:

You are welcome to touch them, you can try to turn them and
you are welcome to dance barefoot on the floor work --------
WHEN YOU ARE AT HOME


Last but not least, I would like to draw your attention to the work of Willi Siber, who unfortunately cannot be in Hamburg today and sends his best regards.

His new floor objects do full honour to the exhibition title. In contrast to Dieter Balzer and Jürgen Paas, who could be described as Constructivist Concretists or Minimalists, Willi Siber could perhaps be aptly described as the baroque Pop Art artist. Using the simplest basic shapes - in this case circles - and industrially produced painted surfaces, he creates objects that look as if he has made them quickly and intuitively by hand. The colours - chrome and interference paints used in the automotive industry - have something overwhelming about them. It almost seems as if the shapes are there solely to make the colours work. Siber's theme is beauty that exists for its own sake. His theme is our need for light and movement - in other words, for positive energy.

I wish you this positive energy this evening as you tour our exhibition.