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The OMC Gallery for Contemporary Art will be presenting
July 17 to October 16, 2010
Couples and Pairs
By
ERNST WILLE (German Painter 1916 - 2005)
The theme of the presented paintings, silk screen prints and gouaches, all created between 1973 and 2003, focuses on unity in duality. 'Couples' often referred to as 'Adam and Eve' and their descendants play a major role in WILLE' s oeuvre, although it's rather the fascination about the context of two opposing characters and the associated drama, then the religious background which has driven WILLE.
'Pairs' takes the subject to a more abstract less figurative level and is about the effect, based on using two dominating colors within a composition. ERNST WILLE 's approach to color has been very fundamental and was documented in the publication "Farben-Phänomene" (Color - Phenomena) in 1994. One of the major challenges for an artist he defined as:
...to use colors in a way to create light, without painting light…
About the work process of creation ERNST WILLE said:
'The process of visualization is very exciting and reflects an argument between the ego (intellect), the theme and the spirit. It can happen within minutes, but also may take years as dates on some work show. The artistic train of thought can be compared to a congruent triangle, which angles represent the ego, the theme and the material, to be used.
The spiritual component, the transcendental of the artistic work, can be symbolized with an additional point, which turns the triangle into a pyramid and adds with that the third dimension.
Wille also has a very special relationship with the United States. 'American History' a large mural in Fort Niagara, was painted during World War II by Ernst Wille, who was at that time a German prisoner of war. Captured on D-Day by the Canadian Regiment de la Chaudiere, he was sent to Fort Niagara, which then functioned as a POW camp.
Before being drafted into the German Army, Wille had trained as an artist at Cologne's Art School. Following repatriation, he entered the Munich Art School and has since become a well known figure in German Art, highly decorated by the German government for his many years of service in art and art education. WILLE 's work is part of numerous private collections and has been exhibited in German, Dutch and Belgian Museums.
The exhibition at OMC Gallery is a tribute to my old friend ERNST WILLE, who was my teacher and father like friend for almost 30 years and whose knowledge and wisdom has nourished my education and career in a profound way.
Rolf Goellnitz |
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