Compressed charcoal on a white sheet of paper is the foundation of Gisela Schattenburg’s direct drawing technique. Her drawings are freely carried-out lines actively brought to paper that condense into transparent structures or concentrated surfaces. The artist works in series and in formats of up to 180 x 140 cm. She prefers short, temperamental strokes, with which she creates contrasts of direction and brightness, leads into turbulences, and unleashes a kind of vortex that corresponds to the fascinating quality of a swarm. Themes like change, processes of dissolution, and renewal are palpable. These states of being between dissolution and condensation are concretized also with work or exhibition titles like »Silent and Flowing«, »Play of Forces«, or »Linear Structures«. Some works point to various spatial levels in which white stripes penetrate the drawn areas and give the pictorial space order. In its complexity, Gisela Schattenburg’s art shows a breadth of variation that is achieved with minimal means.
The catalogue is published to accompany the exhibition of »Gisela Schattenburg … durch die Zeiten« at the GALERIE IM STAMMELBACH-SPEICHER, Hildesheim, 12.09. – 10.10.2021. Further information can be found at Gisela Schattenburg.
Authorship: Gisela Schattenburg, Christoph Tannert