Caught up in Things. Reflections on the Paintings of Dirk Salz

by Dr. Martin Hellmold

       The painter ‘takes his body with him’, says Valery. Indeed we cannot imagine how a mind could paint. It is by lending his body to the world that the artist changes the world into paintings.^[1]

When one stands before the works of Dirk Salz, it becomes impossible to escape the encounter with one’s own act of seeing. To perceive the paintings of Dirk Salz is to move in front of them, searchingly and intuitively, at one’s own pace, with an open and engaged mind, attempting to form an idea of the peculiar balance between emptiness and fullness, between factual materiality and visual appearance, which confronts the viewer. The perception of these works is dependent on the space in which they are displayed, the height at which they are positioned and, above all, the light that fills the surrounding space. The lighting conditions have a decisive influence not only on the colour and luminosity emanating from the artworks – affecting the intensity and gradations of the monochrome forms emerging within the inner space of the images – but also on the reflections on their surfaces, with which we are confronted.

The artistic development of Dirk Salz led from his early beginnings, which were focused on figurative representation, diverse experiments and the exploration of technical skills, to a gradual narrowing of his means and forms, reaching a point of extreme reduction. From there, the artist broadened his questions and visual language through engagement with fundamental philosophical reflections, as he found them discussed by thinkers such as Kant, Schopenhauer and others, as well as through analysis of positions in recent art history. Particularly influential were the colour theory and practical studies of Josef Albers and, most notably, Concrete Art. The evolution of this movement since the 1970s, as seen in the work of Imi Knoebel, demonstrates a significant connection to Minimal Art, which also played an important role in shaping Dirk Salz’s approach. Crucial inspiration for Salz also came from his engagement with the ‘abstract sublime’ of American Modernism, especially the large-scale paintings – tending towards dualistic or monochrome colour choices – of Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Ad Reinhardt. Newman’s exploration of ‘[m]an’s natural desire in the arts to express his relation to the Absolute’,^[2] which he pursued not only in his works but also in his writings, can likewise be understood as a reference point for Dirk Salz’s artistic interests.

„Caught up in things. Reflections on the Paintings of Dirk Salz – Dr. Martin Hellmold“ weiterlesen

Zwischen den Dingen. Reflexionen angesichts der Malerei von Dirk Salz

von Dr. Martin Hellmold

            „Der Maler ›bringt seinen Leib ein‹, sagt Valery. Und in der Tat kann man sich nicht         vorstellen, wie ein Geist malen könnte. Indem der Maler der Welt seinen Leib leiht,      verwandelt er die Welt in Malerei.“[1] (Merleau-Ponty)

Wer den Werken von Dirk Salz gegenübertritt, der kann sich der Begegnung mit dem eigenen Sehen nicht entziehen. Malerei von Dirk Salz wahrzunehmen, bedeutet, sich suchend, intuitiv vor dieser zu bewegen, im eigenen Tempo, mit offenem, tätigem Geist, der sich von der eigenartigen Balance zwischen Leere und Fülle, von faktischer Materialität und visueller Erscheinung, die ihm da entgegentritt, ein Bild zu machen versucht. Die Wahrnehmung dieser Arbeiten ist abhängig von dem Raum, in dem sie gehängt sind, von der Höhe ihrer Positionierung und ganz besonders vom Licht, das sich in diesem Umgebungsraum ausbreitet. Die Lichtverhältnisse haben nicht nur entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Farbigkeit und Leuchtkraft, die von den Werken ausgeht, und damit auf die Intensität und die Abstufungen der monochromen Formelemente, die sich im Binnenraum der Bilder abzeichnen, sondern auch auf die Reflexionen auf deren Oberflächen, mit denen wir konfrontiert werden.

„Zwischen den Dingen. Reflexionen angesichts der Malerei von Dirk Salz – Dr. Martin Hellmold“ weiterlesen

Wenn Räume als Erfahrungsmotive wie Bilder gebaut werden, werden Bilder zu Vorbildern und zugleich zu deren Nachbildern

Wie Dirk Salz mit seinem Wuppertaler Raum in seine Bilder eintritt

von Prof. Raimund Stecker

Bilder bergen eigentlich immer räumliche Illusionen. Und das selbst dann, wenn sie ihre faktische Flächigkeit als genuinen Bildwert identisch mit sich selbst zu exponieren versuchen. Keine faktisch eben-monochrome Fläche wirkt auch monochrom und eben, ebenso wenig wie eine täuschend entwölbte.

Räume hingegen sind – und als solche zumindest illusionsfrei – räumlich! Sie sind räumlich im dreidimensionalen Sinne und um den Faktor Zeit erweitert sogar im vierdimensionalen, wenn nicht gar aufgrund des sehenden und suchenden, forschenden und hinterfragenden, bewusst wahrnehmenden und immer wieder überraschten Sehens faktisch polydimensional.

Räume können so auch Bilder illusionieren, ja hervorrufen, katalysieren. Räume bieten unserem Sehen erst die Schnittflächen durch unsere doppel-monookularen Sehpyramiden und so die Projektionsflächen in unseren Raumsichten.

So weit kursorisch der theoretische Hintergrund zu dem 2023 immer wieder Sehüberraschungen geboten habenden Erlebnisraum von Dirk Salz in der CAMPUSHALLE in Wuppertal. Der Bildner hochkomplexer Bildkörper (siehe vom Autor, in: Dirk Salz – Painting the Absolute)[1] hatte sein Zweidimensionalität sublimierendes Metier verlassen und war in die höchsten Niederungen talgipfelräumlicher (sic) Faktizitäten hineingestiegen, wissend, dass den Scheitelpunkt überschreitend es immer nur bergab geht bis zum nächsten Wendepunkt – und so weiter und so weiter …

„Raimund Stecker zu „Allzeit wache Möglichkeiten“ – Eine Ausstellung in der CAMPUSHALLE Wuppertal“ weiterlesen

If spaces as experiential motifs are constructed like pictures, pictures become both models and their afterimages

How Dirk Salz enters his pictures with his Wuppertal Room

by Prof. Raimund Stecker

Pictures almost always harbour spatial illusions. This is true even when they attempt to expose their factual flatness as a genuine pictorial value identical to themselves. No factually flat monochrome surface appears truly monochrome and flat, and neither does any deceptively decurved one.

Spaces, on the other hand, are – and as such, at least without illusions – spatial! They are spatial in the three-dimensional sense and are extended by the factor of time in the four-dimensional sense, if not even factually poly-dimensional due to seeing and seeking, exploring and scrutinising, consciously perceiving and repeatedly surprised viewing.

Spaces can thus also create the illusion of images – can even evoke and catalyse them. It is spaces that offer our vision the intersecting surfaces through our double-monocular visual pyramids and thus the projection surfaces in our spatial perspectives.

So much for the cursory theoretical background to Dirk Salz’s 2023 experiential space in the CAMPUSHALLE in Wuppertal, which continually offered visual surprises. The creator of highly complex pictorial bodies[1]  had left his metier of sublimating two-dimensionality and ascended into the highest depths of valley-peak spatial factualities, knowing that once you pass the apex, the path is always downhill to the next turning point – and so on and so forth…

„Raimund Stecker on ‚Never-Ending Enchantments‘ – an exhibition at CAMPUSHALLE Wuppertal“ weiterlesen

by Dr. Gabriele Uelsberg

In his art, Dirk Salz approaches colour painting much like a traditional painter, even though he works with the mindset of a sculptor, completing his paintings as designed volumes. Layer by layer, he develops his pictorial objects from the materiality of various materials including pigments, resins, aluminium and wood. His creations engage in a dialogue with viewers, intensifying their inner infinity, colour and light.

Dirk Salz starts by applying a mostly black ground coat to his picture support, usually made of wood or aluminium plate, then gradually layers pigmented resins over it. This method creates a colour gradient from darkness to light and thus a very natural appearance. The final layer is usually transparent and highly glossy, acting as a threshold through which the viewer enters the artwork and see himself reflected. These reflections are inextricably linked to the artwork, showcasing, in a very ambivalent overall interplay, light as a crucial element in the pieces‘ visual manifestation. Often, side light can cause radial rays to emanate from the edges of the painting, which are projected onto the wall, extending the artwork’s presence into the room beyond its physical boundaries.

„Colour Space Constructions“ weiterlesen

von Dr. Gabriele Uelsberg

Dirk Salz ist in seiner Kunst mit Farbmalerei befasst wie ein klassischer Maler,  wenngleich er wie ein Bildhauer arbeitet und das Bild als gestaltetes Volumen vollendet. Schicht für Schicht entwickelt er aus der Materialität seiner unterschiedlichen Werkstoffe mit Pigmenten,  Harzen, Aluminium oder Holz Bildobjekte, deren innere Unendlichkeit, Farbe und Licht sich gleichermaßen in einem Dialog mit den Betrachtern intensivieren.

Dirk Salz grundiert seinen Bildträger, der in der Regel aus Holz- oder Aluminiumplatte besteht, meist schwarz und legt dann die pigmentierten Harzschichten sukzessive darüber, so dass sich die Farbigkeit vom Dunkel ins Licht aufbaut und so ein ganz natürliches Erscheinungsbild aufweist. Die letzte obere Schicht wird in der Regel transparent und stark glänzend gestaltet und ist die Schwelle des Betrachters zum Eintritt ins Bild und zur Spiegelung seiner selbst. Diese Spiegelungen sind auch untrennbar mit dem Werk selbst verbunden und zeigen in einem sehr ambivalenten Gesamtspiel das Licht als einen eminent wichtigen Aspekt in den Erscheinungsformen dieser Arbeiten. Oftmals können durch den seitlichen Lichteinfall sogar radiale Strahlen von den Bildrändern ausgehen, die an die Wand geworfen sind, so dass das Bild sich über sein eigentliches Format hinaus in den Raum ergießt.

„Farb-Raum-Konstruktionen“ weiterlesen

In the nineteenth century the drawing rose in the estimation of the art world. Collectors became increasingly interested in the medium, and fragmentary, incomplete linear compositions were considered particularly appealing and aesthetic. A transformation occurred: the drawing was no longer thought of as a preliminary study or a sketch, but as an artistic genre of its own. The line developed into the artist’s handwriting, as it were, and a profound exploration of this creative means began.  „LINE – creation and reduction (Bromer Galerie)“ weiterlesen

The Paintings of German Artist Dirk Salz Will Play With Your Perception

The artist’s signature method of layering pigmented resin yields an “otherworldly effect.”
artnet Gallery Network, March 19, 2019

Accurately capturing the effect of Dirk Salz’s paintings might be impossible with words or pictures. This is the case for most painting, of course, but it’s particularly true for a series of reflective works by the 57-year-old German artist, which feature dozens of layers of synthetic resin mixed with pigment on their surface. They have a peculiar effect on the viewer’s sense of space and depth.
The effect is “otherworldly,” says Pier Stuker, director of bromer kunst in Bern, Switzerland. The gallery has represented Salz for just over a year now. “It’s the combination between the depth created through the multiple layering of resins and the highly reflective surfaces that renders his works this strange and otherworldly character. You have to imagine a painting with a depth that allows you to lose yourself in it, and a mirroring surface that pushes you out at the same time.” …

read the entire article:

March 19th, 2019

 

Thoughts on Paintings by Dirk Salz

The painting as a window – the painting as a mirror – the painting as a wall. These are the three paradigmatic metaphors that have repeatedly emerged in ever-new variations over the course of the history of painting, indicating how we as viewers perceive painted pictures. The painting as an open window – „quasi una finestra aperta“, this being the classical formulation stated in Leon Battista Alberti’s treatise on painting from 1435/36 – constituted the central metaphorical image from the Renaissance to early modernity, which governed the relationship between painting and viewer: It was painting as the illusion of gazing into another space that lay beyond the aesthetic threshold of the frame. The painting as a mirror is a much more open notion, showing up in extremely different ways anywhere from Jan van Eyck’s „Arnolfini-Portrait“ to Gerhard Richter’s real mirror objects. By contrast, with the painting as a „wall“, i.e., an opaque material surface that the viewer’s gaze is unable to penetrate, it is primarily perceived as an object from which every vestige of illusionism has been banished, as a thing with characteristic features. The paintings by Antoni Tàpies with their graffiti-like incisions that make them appear like pieces of a wall are a prime example for this. „Peter Lodermeyer : Questioning the Reality of the Picture“ weiterlesen

On Painted Pictures without Certainties by Dirk Salz

In our western culture, the View of Delft is the quintessential view of a city – which is to say, it is not only a view of Delft, but of a city per se. In 1660/61 the painter Jan Vermeer created this painting of his birthplace, and since then it has become synonymous for cityscape painting. In general we assume that this great masterpiece of our “construed” (1) western-European history of art “may in some ways be classified as being in the tradition of topographical painting” of the kind “that harks back to those city panoramas that frame the great maps of the Netherlands”. (2) Accordingly then, in the case of Vermeer’s View of Delft unquestionably it is also at least about the fact that due to his veduta, the topographic, physical, and, as it were, faithfully realistic View of Delft is recognizable, or maybe even only first becomes recognizable, and thus identifiable by those who approach the city. „Raimund Stecker: Searching for the Little Patch of Yellow Wall“ weiterlesen