Christian is Professor of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Dresden, Germany. He studied painting with Maria Lassnig in Vienna, and lived in Rome and Berlin before taking up his current post in Dresden. He is a Heartfulness trainer.



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Christian Macketanz

<h4 style="text-align:justify;"><span style="color:#C32527;"><strong>CHRISTIAN MACKETANZ</strong></span><strong> </strong><span style="color:hsl(0,0%,0%);"><strong>offers us an insight into how an artist creates a peaceful work of art, and how true peace goes beyond that possibility.</strong></span></h4><p style="text-align:justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align:justify;">The instruments of art are opposites, dualities, and complementarities. Light versus darkness, color complementarities, etc. We perceive visually through opposites, and the artist plays with these ingredients.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">If we perceive any artwork as harmonious or peaceful, it is due to the interaction and ultimately the balance of the dual concepts.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">Experiencing peace and harmony does not mean that everything runs smoothly and without challenge or friction. Peace and harmony mean recognizing, accepting, and integrating diversity and opposites. It is a momentary, balanced state of consciousness that we can experience, appreciate and actively create within ourselves through meditation. Then the outer world may begin to reflect peace and harmony, and our ability to see the beauty in everything is the beginning.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">For true peace—inner peace—we transcend and go beyond duality into the inexpressible state of being, where its natural expression is only love.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">&nbsp;</p><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/instruments_of_art2_32f14c6d66.webp" alt="instruments-of-art2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_instruments_of_art2_32f14c6d66.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_instruments_of_art2_32f14c6d66.webp 851w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/instruments_of_art2_32f14c6d66.webp 851w," sizes="100vw"></figure><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Life-concert</strong> shows Buddha, Jesus, and Lord Krishna with Mirabai in concert.&nbsp;<br>Painted in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2024.</p><p style="text-align:justify;">&nbsp;</p><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/instruments_of_art3_8bca93a711.webp" alt="instruments-of-art3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_instruments_of_art3_8bca93a711.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_instruments_of_art3_8bca93a711.webp 600w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/instruments_of_art3_8bca93a711.webp 600w," sizes="100vw"></figure><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>First Mystery</strong> shows an image of Saint&nbsp;Therese of Lisieux, with cosmic elements&nbsp;<br>of destruction, creation, and beauty, including a hint to Lord Krishna—<br>the arrow and Krishna wheel. Saint Therese&nbsp;suffered physically a lot,&nbsp;<br>but was a personification of love.&nbsp;<br>Painted in Dresden, Germany, in 2015.</p><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#F47721;">For true peace—inner peace—we</span><br><span style="color:#F47721;">transcend and go beyond duality into</span><br><span style="color:#F47721;">the inexpressible state of being, where</span><br><span style="color:#F47721;">its natural expression is only love.</span></h4><hr><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/instruments_of_art4_9206a3b346.webp" alt="instruments-of-art4.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_instruments_of_art4_9206a3b346.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_instruments_of_art4_9206a3b346.webp 1000w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/instruments_of_art4_9206a3b346.webp 1000w," sizes="100vw"></figure><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Saraswati</strong> or <strong>5 meters</strong> is a&nbsp;westernized&nbsp;image of the river-goddess Saraswati,&nbsp;<br>who represents many things like&nbsp;education,&nbsp;science, art, speech and words.&nbsp;<br>In the Rig Veda, she is the mother of the Vedas. She is generally&nbsp;associated with&nbsp;<br>the river of life, and symbolizes great wisdom and the creation of the universe.&nbsp;<br>Painted in Dresden, Germany, in 2020.</p><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">&nbsp;Artworks by CHRISTIAN MACKETANZ</h4><hr>

The instruments of art

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<h4 class="block-heading"
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    <strong><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#416db5" class="has-inline-color">CHRISTIAN
            MACKETANZ</mark> is an artist and Professor of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts, Dresden, Germany.
        He shares his love of Nature and creativity, and how they both relate to the spiritual aspect of
        existence.</strong>
</h4>



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<p>As a boy, I spent a lot of time in nature in my northern German homeland. Whether with my friends or alone with
    my dog, I spent hours after school in the forest or in the wide fields. I always felt a deep connection and a
    kind of equality or oneness with the trees, plants, animals, insects, and even the air in which everything moved
    – the wind and the rustling leaves, the Earth – simply all the phenomena of nature. When the wind came, I could
    hear how it first went from the East into the pine forest, then into the mixed forest, and then over me toward
    the West into the leafless beech forest, creating its own specific sounds.</p>



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<p>The wide sky and its colors always filled me with a kind of wanderlust that I was later to identify as spiritual
    homesickness. I never felt lonely in Nature but instead found comfort in it.</p>



<p>As a young student in Vienna, I went by tram as often as possible to the undeveloped nature at the city limits,
    which calmed my restless, agitated, and electrified mind.</p>



<p>A little later, in my mid-20s, after starting a heart-based meditation practice, I lived for two to three years
    in a farming area 60 kilometers from Vienna. I helped with the harvests, fed the ducks, wild boars, and deer
    daily, and lived with the natural rhythms of Nature, as there was little to no electricity in my dwelling and
    studio. Whenever the weather allowed, I meditated outside under a tree.</p>



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<p>By this time, my first exhibitions were quite successful, and I regularly delivered paintings to the gallery in
    Vienna. But otherwise, I had little to no contact with the mechanisms of the art market, and the demands on
    young artists to propagate and communicate creative processes, artistic will, and its ambitions. Instead, I
    developed the understanding and awareness that there is only one real “creativity” in the literal sense, and
    that is Mother Nature.</p>



<p>Indeed, it is only here that real creation takes place, at which we can marvel and witness with constant
    fascination and admiration. What we call creativity, or art par excellence, seems to me to be more a play, or
    perhaps an interpretation of our world of experience and knowledge. Perhaps a mixture of both, interwoven in the
    web of opposites and their references. In this respect, it could perhaps be considered a modest, interpretive
    creativity.&nbsp;</p>



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<h4 class="block-heading has-text-align-center"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#e85e4b"
        class="has-inline-color">I developed the understanding and awareness that <br>there is only one real
        “creativity” in the literal sense, <br>and that is Mother Nature.</mark></h4>



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<p>Immersion and surrendering to an interpretation of our world of experience and its insights was what the ancient
    Greeks called the “visitation of the daemon<em>,”</em> the divinity, the inspiring force, and in ancient Rome,
    the “company of a genius.” There is a kind of humility in these formulations that reflects the hierarchy of
    creative forces. The daemon was later demonized, and the genius still later demoted to the artist’s ego. And now
    we are again in search of our role in the relationship with the creative force.</p>



<p>There is a beautiful story about a painter-monk in the monastery of Kiev in the late 13th century. A duke
    commissioned him to paint an icon of Holy Mother Mary. Due to severe illness, he could not leave his cot and
    even after several inquiries if the painting would be finished in time, he was unable to get up. The night
    before the arrival of the duke, a celestial light filled the monk’s small cave and an angelic being began and
    completed the icon. It is said that this is the most beautiful and vivid image of Mother Mary.</p>



<p>Now, the question arises: who painted the icon?</p>



<p>In my experience, the true answers are often of stunning simplicity. The great saint, Shri Ram Chandra of
    Shahjahanpur, known as Babuji, once said, “The heart is the playground of Divinity.” So, it seems that we must
    dive deep into the heart to join and enjoy the creative play of Mother Nature. </p>



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<h4 class="block-heading has-text-align-center"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#e85e4b"
        class="has-inline-color">Babuji, once said, “The heart is the playground of Divinity.” So, <br>it seems that
        we must dive deep into the heart to join <br>and enjoy the creative play of Mother Nature.</mark></h4>



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<h4 class="block-heading has-text-align-center">Artwork by CHRISTIAN MACKETANZ</h4>



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Creativity and art

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<h3 class="has-text-align-center" id="h-an-art-essay"><span style="color:#596599">AN ART
        ESSAY</span></h3>



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<h4 id="h-christian-macketanz-explains-the-creative-process-behind-the-paintings-in-his-exhibition"><strong><span
            style="color:#596599">CHRISTIAN MACKETANZ</span> explains the creative process
        behind the paintings in his exhibition.</strong></h4>



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<p>The content of my paintings has always been our human traits. The best human qualities are found as well as our
    basest weaknesses; simply everything that affects us both externally and internally.</p>



<p>The people in my pictures are making honest efforts, often in spite of enormous obstacles, so I truly feel for them.
</p>



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<p>Sometimes their strivings are so grotesque that it feels ridiculous. Even so, I’m not in a position to help them.</p>



<p>It’s not up to me whether their efforts are successful or not. This lies in the eye, the mind, and especially the
    heart of the patient observer.</p>



<p>So, the fate of the people in my paintings is decided, and their story is created, by the viewer alone.</p>



<p>Patience and looking closely are necessary … especially because these are not motion pictures.</p>



<p>Painting has always been a means for me to go beyond the limits of knowing and understanding.</p>



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<p>From the simplest graffiti to the most elaborate painting there is always someone behind it who has left the realm of
    thought, using a meager two-dimensional means of expression, who has put everything into that image.</p>



<p>Again and again, I’m amazed at how modest the undertaking of painting can be. It requires only minimal materials,
    hardly any space, and no knowledge.</p>



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<h4 class="has-text-align-center">Art by CHRISTIAN MACKETANZ</h4>



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