"I sail on the sea of life, and when my sail breaks, then I want to row, and when it’s no longer enough, then I let myself drift. I do not paint what is fashionable, I paint how I feel".
It is still quiet in the exhibition, still a little time until the vernissage. During a short tour, lothar gartner explains not only his paintings. He speaks of what moves him, what he wants to express in his pictures, what he sees in them. He says of himself, he is contradictory, uncouth, is not polished, does not allow himself to be bent, as an artist he takes no account of currents and the zeitgeist. In this sense, he has not worked on himself, he is untreated. "Untreated" is then also the motto of this, his fifth exhibition, which he presents in the hotel kaiserhof victoria.
Rough fan community
it is an illustrious crowd that meets a little later in the foyer. Everyone came who has always accompanied the kissing art scene. But on this rainy evening, the crowd of art lovers is much more coarse than usual. Lothar gartner had invited to it, and there met his coarse circle of friends. They know each other, they like each other, and they all have one thing in common: they like lothar gartner, they like his manner, they like his friendliness, they like his art, he is a dazzling artistic figure who enriches the cultural life of the spa town and leaves a lasting mark on it. "My vernissage should be an experience, an opportunity to meet, to talk, to look…
If only art connoisseurs and possible buyers would come, what would be for a dreary event", says gartner. And so not only is champagne chilled, fine happchen prepared, discreet piano music accompanies the speech, but the artist is in the midst of his fan community. He has a few words for everyone, a hug, a smile for those he does not know personally. "130 people are present, the same number as last year", flutters christian weghofer, the manager of the "kaiserhof victoria" the painter before he buries the guests and is happy that his house is allowed to exhibit the paintings of the artist from kissingen for the fifth time already. "That is not self-evident", answers gartner, that makes him happy, makes him also a little humble, he admits. Deputy district administrator emil muller revealed why he was happy to come to this vernissage: he and his wife have "one and a half gardeners hanging at home. "The half", he revealed with a smile, the result of a joint painting session with the artist, improved by gartner.
Painting on in thought
laudator hubert ziegler calls the painter genuine, untouched, spontaneous, contradictory and "in a certain way untreated" and what could be more natural than to present his works under this motto?. His paintings do not seem spared, do not seem finished, they invite the viewer to continue painting, at least in his mind.
"Lothar, you paint the way you see your time. Remain so. Do not do it the way we do. We can’t leave anything unfinished, we have to improve, grind, smooth, etc.". Let’s not lose a piece of our individuality? In the past, nature was the creator, today many things are artificial, treated. Continue to carry the flame of individuality, let the viewer discover the untreated side of your paintings, of your soul."
Untreated or not?
The pictures are like this. Different techniques, different materials, groups of figures, landscapes. Gartner increasingly refines his crackle technique, applies layers of paint on top of each other, leaves them untreated, exposes them to the sun, and then paints them on from that breaks the layers. Cracks emerge, making visible what is hidden underneath, conveying depth, drawing shadow plays. Are these paintings untreated?
There it is again, one of the contradictions of lothar gartner. Untreated by the painter is this picture, yes. Treated it is nevertheless. From a very rough of the guild, from nature. Like his art station at the jakobus church "atelier zeitgeist says, as he opposes this zeitgeist. In its art, in its personality. This is how he understands himself, this is how he would like to be understood.
The exhibition at the hotel "kaiserhof victoria bath kis-singen is to 9. February 2014 opened. The entrance is free.