on 1 September 2024 at 11.30 am in the Old Synagogue of the Kunstverein Oerlinghausen
Jara Lahme, M.A.
Thank you very much, Mrs Müller-Borchert, for the introductory words and the presentation. A warm welcome also from me to the opening of Axel Plöger’s exhibition Sessions – Time and Colour.
I would like to begin by thanking Axel in particular for allowing me to introduce the exhibition and his work today. I am particularly pleased about this opportunity, as I am here not only as an art historian, but also as the stepdaughter of Axel, who has accompanied and influenced me for many years of my life. If I had not spent a large part of my youth in his studio and among his works, I would hardly have studied art history and would not be standing before you today. I am therefore very pleased to be able to give you some ideas and thoughts on the exhibition tour and to be able to talk to you during the opening.
The connection between Axel and myself now also provides me with a suitable transition to talk about this exhibition in more detail, because the exhibition and Axel’s work are always about lines, nets and grids – in the broadest sense about connections. Visually,
these can be quickly perceived as brushstroke interweavings in the paintings, but they are not only reflected in the individual works, but can be discovered again and again in the works over several decades. The line as an individual element and in its complex grid compositions play an important role in the work. They can be understood as painterly interventions in the surfaces and form a motivic contingency through their constant recurrence in the overall work. The cross-references between the works intended by the artist thus not only create a visual network, but also form a network structure interwoven in dialogue within the oeuvre. These references and cross-references in the work and time can be understood as starting points for this exhibition. At the centre is the early work Amazonía from 1999, which you can see here in a central position. It is the only early work on show in this exhibition. From it, the connections extend into the room, which can then be linked with the new works from the last two years. In this way, the net between work, artist and viewer is stretched.
The work Amazonía was consciously integrated into the painting process by the artist over the last two years. It is one of three paintings created during the six-year period in Lima and is still in his possession. The painting, which is now 25 years old, has been hanging in his studio since that time and has accompanied, inspired and encouraged him to return to the net-like structures when looking back on this creative phase. He deliberately focussed on the painting process in its self-contained levels and on the expressive power of the early work. He has now also processed the developments and changes in the works from 1999 to the present day in a selected compilation in the catalogue Reflexionen (reflections), which was published for this exhibition and is of course also available for purchase.
In addition to Amazonía, today we encounter a selection of works from the five series Volver, Reflexions, Dances, Flow and Lethe, which were created in 2023 and 2024. The works from the Volver series (a title that comes from the Spanish and means to return or come back in German) were created with the deliberate inclusion of the work Amazonía and therefore show clear motivic references to this early work. In direct comparison, similarities become apparent in the grids and lattices across the canvas, which are sometimes symmetrically or asymmetrically superimposed.
In addition to temporal references within the overall work, the temporality of the artistic execution, i.e. the temporality during the creation process of the works, has played an equally important role since his studies. For example, the artist sets himself a time limit, as in the works from the Flow and Lethe series, and works in time-limited and separate three-to five-minute sessions. As soon as the session is over, this stage of the work is also finished; no more changes, no more corrections. The work is accepted as it is, without entering into a distanced perception during the painting process. The works in the Flow series are thus created from the same thing: a painting flow or from a movement, from a momentary impulse, without conscious conceptual planning. In contrast, the word Lethe, as so often in his titles, is borrowed from Greek mythology and here denotes the flow of forgetting. The sessions thus represent the form for focussing more on the process character of the work and making this perceptible in the image. It is not about the ‘perfect’ picture, but about the path to it – the visible work steps with beginning and end, the sensual flow of painting.
The three works from the Reflections series were also created in painting sessions. However, in contrast to the Flow series, they are based on a colour concept even before execution: from dark, mostly black, to light. A process of applying several layers of colour that begin dark and become lighter and lighter and have a strong monochrome character. The resulting high-contrast works thus become a snapshot in time and colour of a sequence from dark to light, from night to day or as a reflection of light on a surface that casts light into shadow.
The fifth series, Dances, two of which can be seen here today: Dances No. 1 and No. 5) consists of large-format works whose creation is based on improvisation. They can be read as analogous to improvisation in jazz music, which is the inspiration for the series. It is reflected in the spontaneous artistic process. Without a planned composition, the result is a free, sensual interplay of developing forms and lines that overlap and interlock. In the work Dances No. 5 in particular, the forms detach themselves from linearity and gain in fullness, roundness and figurativeness.
The reduction of complexities to forms, surfaces and lines, the act of painting and the processual development and acceptance of the changes in the picture show the value
attached to the language of form and colour in the work. The painting of the line – whether as a carefully applied brushstroke or the quickly drawn line of a large grid or tangled weave – points to the conscious execution and recognition of the process, which is enhanced by the sensual and touching quality of line and colour. The impasto, relieflike traces of painting become, as it were, the ductus of a feeling. In their simplicity, time, form and colour become autobiographical means of expressing the complexity of everyday life and realities.
How we perceive the works, which approach each individual chooses to the works, is up to us. Abstraction is seemingly universally understandable and yet so individual in the encounter. Works of art without predetermined reading and interpretation instructions leave the approach up to us and challenge us as viewers to engage with them and allow our own encounter completely independent of the artist’s intentions.
Now I would like to leave you to your own encounter with the individual works, go on your own journey, take note – immerse yourself in the colours and shapes and stop time for yourself for a moment.
Axel and I will be happy to continue talking to you. Thank you very much for your attention and I wish you a pleasant visit to the exhibition.
01.09.24 Jara Pauline Lahme, M.A.