AN ART ESSAY
CHRISTIAN MACKETANZ explains the creative process behind the paintings in his exhibition.
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.
The people in my pictures are making honest efforts, often in spite of enormous obstacles, so I truly feel for them.
Sometimes their strivings are so grotesque that it feels ridiculous. Even so, I’m not in a position to help them.
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.
So, the fate of the people in my paintings is decided, and their story is created, by the viewer alone.
Patience and looking closely are necessary … especially because these are not motion pictures.
Painting has always been a means for me to go beyond the limits of knowing and understanding.
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.
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.
Art by CHRISTIAN MACKETANZ
Christian Macketanz
