It is surely the most foolish and inadequate undertaking to try to put things about art into words or writing, because whether you want to or not, everyone speaks only pro domo for his own soul, and absolute objectivity or justice is not possible. Moreover, certain ultimate things can only be expressed through art itself, otherwise they would not need to be painted, written or played.
Max Beckmann
Nevertheless:
My aim is to express my inner vision as clearly, directly and intelligibly as possible. Beauty is not my main concern. I find all „a posteriori“ theories about art but pretentious esthetic dribble.
In my opinion, a painted image, a drawing or a print should be relevant, meaningful and unique, and not the result of a recipe.
My work is experimental. I distrust virtuosity, formulas and „personal style“. If you know exactly how it will look in the end, why paint or draw? The end must be open, the end result must surprise me. For me, creative work is an open-ended process, a game, a modest adventure.
A painting must be well painted and at the same time it should have a message. A painting without content and without story is for me just a formal gimmick, mindless and boring no matter how much mysticism is interpreted into it.
Once you have gained complete control over the work process, the production of predictable handicrafts begins. There must be a difficulty, a hurdle to overcome or a technical problem to solve, a risk to take. Therefore, I find that virtuosity and skill are the enemies of art.
My creative process is mostly intuitive and irrational, I only partially work with my head, a lot flows out of the brush or out of my hand, „it paints itself“. I Often cannot understand myself how a picture has come into being. The result comes as a surprise.
High ideals, heroic, historical themes, religious or political propaganda, romantic feelings, literature, visual gags rarely make a work of art better.
The most interesting themes for me are man in existential situations, the human figure and human existence. The topics can be funny, strange, sad, idiosyncratic, macabre, sarcastic, ironic, etc. Art should be a feast for the eyes and should have an intellectual component, a message, a visual language that stands for something and triggers associations, thoughts, feelings, moods.
The ability to see and recognize quality comes with time.
Limitations trigger the creative process.
Copying and studying reality are ways to expand the artist’s visual vocabulary. Sooner or later he will have to go beyond it.
Honest creativity is never free of self-doubt and temporary despair.
Making art is often a selfish activity, it has no practical purpose – except you make money with it… It might be the height of civilization and luxury to engage in something that serves no practical purpose. You have to do it against all odds…
As an artist you have to be compulsively driven by a passion. This should be your priority. Everything else comes after that. A life without passion, is nothing but dreary monotony and underlying, constant despair.
I often know in the first few seconds whether I am in the right state of mind (in the flow) or mood and whether this drawing or painting will turn out well. There are times when this doesn’t happen and nothing really good comes out, no matter how hard I try, and the more stubborn I become, the worse the results are…