›Seeing new stars‹ 28/01/2023—18/03/2023

• Patrick Cierpka

Constance 28/01/2023—18/03/2023

Using acrylic and oil, Patrick Cierpka captures snapshots, small excerpts of a contemplation, on canvas. The title of the exhibition ›Seeing New Stars‹ is given by a number of works that show the play of water and waves with artistic virtuosity, which only brings about the joys of contemplating nature when the rays of sunlight fall on them. The title of this exhibition, with which the Lachenmann Art gallery is starting the new exhibition year 2023 in Konstanz, seems like a glimmer of hope on the horizon.

Patrick Cierpka captures fleeting moments both by day and by night, knows how to depict light and sunshine with color and transports us to pleasant memories. In addition to water, the artist's oeuvre is also concerned with looking up to the sky, through the branches of the trees, blinded by the light of the sun. This incidence of light is captured as if through an open camera lens and transports us mentally to a warm spring day, lying on our backs in the grass and blinking in the sun.

Real moments of nature find their way into the imagery in an abstract painting style, which reflects visual experiences and evokes complex associations in the viewer: the sparkle and glow of sunbeams through the branches and twigs of trees, the reflection of light on the water, the captured " now", the fleeting moment of flickering. We can observe this particularly in the monumental canvas work ›ZOOM‹. The colors are blended in a glazed application, standing in direct juxtaposition with white, glaring light, while the standstill of time seems to be captured. Patrick Cierpka captivates us with his luminous, hypnotic moments of painterly blur.

While the serial works ›Seeing New Stars‹ evoke associative moments of a walk along the shore in the warm spring sunshine, particularly in the residents of the Lake Constance district, in the work ›ROYAL VI‹ the lights of the city shine on the dark water. This shows the artist's reference to urbanized landscapes and people, who also become part of the depiction in works such as ›EVERYWHERE‹. The artist's works explore the depiction of light, shadow, reflections, implied figuration and simultaneous abstraction.

Patrick Cierpka studied under Karl Horst Hödicke at the University of the Arts and excelled as a master student in the painting class. Today he lives and works in Berlin. He describes the inspiration and imagery behind his own work with the words: "It is summer. I am lying on a meadow, next to me a clearing in the forest. Then I open my eyes for just a moment, just a crack - and it is precisely this moment that fascinates me. I want to depict it in my works."