ART IN THE OFFICE 2016

PROLOGUE

Many of us spend a good portion of our lives in the office. Therefore, a nice and pleasant working environment is important.

We have tried to provide such an environment by displaying pieces of art from many ethnic origins of around the world for our colleagues and visitors to enjoy.

In the following, we want to introduce these objects of art.

Klaus Becker

Furniture:

Designed by one of Germany’s most prominent architects Günter Behnisch, (1922 – 2010) whose prominent projects included the tent-like Olympic Park in Munich (Olympic Games 1972) and the new West German Parliament building in Bonn (not: Berlin!), produced by VS in Tauberbischofsheim, Germany (which is the largest manufacturer of school furniture in Europe; all the offices of the Members of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag) in Berlin, BMW World in Munich and Princeton University are equipped with their office furniture).

Chairs: Verner Panton (1926 – 1998), one of Denmark’s most influential 20th-century furniture and interior designers.

The Desk Lamps were designed by Michele de Lucchi, born in Italy. Michele, greatly bearded like Tolstoy, is a world-renowned architect and designer. In 1987, he co-designed (with Giancarlo Fassina) the bestseller “Tolomeo”, a clearcut, functional aluminum work lamp, for Artemide.

Four City Engravings. These are four wonderful engravings of the 18th century showing “vedute ottiche”, optimal sights, of three cities, Florence, Milan and Rome, with coeval original colorization, on four sheets of impressive dimensions. The engravings are presented in lacquered and decorated frames “a mecca”, original from the 17-hundreds.

These copperplate engravings were produced and colored by the famous engraver-family Rendini di Bassano del Grappa who was renown throughout Europe from the late 17th to the early 19th century.

The interesting aspect of these engravings is that, if gazed at through a tiny hole, they gain three-dimensionality which had an astounding effect on the spectators of the 18th century.

The main problem Verrocchio faced was of statics: representing the horse while moving, with a raised leg, could cause stability problems due to the excessive weight of the bronze being supported only by three relatively thin legs. Donatello, in his monument at Padua, had partially solved the problem by putting the raised leg on a sphere. Verrocchio was the first to solve the problem in having the horse supported by three legs.

Although it was not placed where Colleoni had intended, art historian Passavent emphasized how fine it looks in its actual position, writing that "the magnificent sense of movement in this figure is shown to superb advantage in its present setting" and that, as sculpture, "it far surpasses anything the century had yet aspired to or thought possible". He points out that both man and horse are equally fine and together are inseparable parts of the sculpture.

Colleoni had the magnificent mortuary chapel, the Cappella Colleoni, built in Bergamo which can be visited still today.

Wooden Vase, by Colin Schleeh. Schleeh was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1955. He apprenticed at the Berufs- und Fachschule, Holz und Kunstgewerbe Stuttgart, Germany and at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Schleeh has been commissioned to created designs for Hermes Paris (New York), and Bulgari and has been featured in the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Montreal Museum of fine Art.

He said: “For me, bending wood is a metaphor for the taming of our wild world.” The vase was acquired in the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas.

Pictures and Sculptures:

“11 Teal Ostriches”, by Josh Brown, oil on canvas, J. Brown is originally from Charlotte (Myers Park High School), and is currently a student at SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design)

Photo of Diane Krüger, taken by Brigitte Lacombe, a French photographer living in New York City. She has worked with directors such as Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols and Quentin Tarantino.The photo of Diane Krüger is from a scene in the movie “Inglourious Basterds” (2009) and served as the cover photo for the ZEIT-Magazin, part of the renowned German intellectual weekly DIE ZEIT with a weekly edition of more than 500,000 copies. Brigitte Lacombe has also worked for Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and German Vogue among others.

Zhang Hua is a rising artist and is increasingly well known in China and abroad. He exhibited his sculptures (among others) at the National Convention Centre in Beijing.

“Horse 178”, by Brian Hibbard, oil on board. Hibbard was born in South Carolina and went to Winthrop University, he now lives on his farm in Cedar Grove N.C., (close to Greensboro).

“Formen der Leidenschaft” (Shapes of Passion), golden woman figure on red background, by Jonas Heinevetter, oil on canvas.  This œuvre was the center piece of a public exhibition at the FEZ (Forschungs und Entwicklungs-zentrum of the University Witten-Herdecke) in 2013. Heinevetter was born in Essen, Germany in 1979, and is an artist with a bohemian life style.  He is involved in paintings, art in sand, and is an enthusiastic street painter.

“Embrace 3”, by Pang Yong Jie, oil on canvas, Jie was born Dong Ming, in Shandong Province, China, in 1968. He has exhibited his works at the China National Academy of Painting, Beijing (2012) and more recently (2013) at the Hong Kong Basel.

“Die Schöne” (The Beautiful <Lady>), oil on canvas, by Rita Weychert. Weychert is a very active German artist and lives in Witten, Germany.

“No one” (the horse heads), by Aleksey Gromov, canvas, acrylic, laquer.  Gromov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1988, and studied at the Kunsthochschule in Berlin, among other schools.  He has had exhibitions at the Kunsthalle, Berlin, and at the Erarta Museum in St. Petersburg.This diptych was acquired in St. Petersburg in July 2013.

"Alleine” (Alone), by Dr. Birgit Wewers, oil on canvas, artist and art teacher in Witten, Germany.

 “Untitled”,  Acrylic on canvas, 2012, by Mark Mason, Atlanta,  GA, USA; artist and part-owner of the gallery MasonMurer in Atlanta, Ga.

“Hoamfindn“ – in German  “Heimfinden“ – in English “at home“, Acrylics on canvas,  by Christine Foetsch, born in 1957, raised and currently living in Vienna, Austria.

“Onset of Darkness I”,  by Paul Hastings, a local artist in Charlotte, NC, USA

 “Fisherman's Evening“ (Volosko, Croatia), Acrylic on paper, and  “Sundown in Cres (Croatia)”, Acrylic on canvas, by Christine Foetsch, raised and currently living in Vienna, Austria.

  “Woman with Flute”, 2010, by Li Shoubai, limited edition silkscreen/woodblock print. Shoubai was born in Shanghai in 1962. She has had several solo exhibitions in Shanghai, Beijing, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Ray Hare, “Let it Snow (Leopard)”, Original, acrylic on canvas. Ray is a native Californian where he lives with his wife Susan in Orange County.  Hare attended the California College of Arts and Crafts and has a Master of Fine Arts from San Francisco State University.  Among others, his works were exhibited in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles Art Institute.

Through Ray’s eyes, realism has taken a new dimension. His paintings are photo realism but his art goes beyond realistic likeness.  In his work the larger than life close-ups are depicted with all their infinite color and details. It is as if he held a magnifying glass up to his subject and painted what he saw. What Ray Hare captures as a result, is a new reality. His unique vision through enlarged images and illusions is shared through paintings that grasp the essence of his subjects.

“Zerbrochenes” (Broken), a triptych, various materials on paper, 2013, by Dr. Birgit Wewers.  Allotment garden areas which were typical for the Ruhr District. This is where the miners and steel workers seeked repose after their long and hard work days in hot steel mills or under difficult conditions below ground. These small garden parcels of land were the pride of the workers and their families.

They took meticulous care of their gardens.  The grass, however small and area, was trimmed with great precision and the extremely small cabins on the lot were nicely furbished and offered an oasis for a beer after the hard work.

Wewers inducement to paint this triptych is based on an article in the newspaper, that vandalzing youths had broken into the tranquility of this garden allotment and had senselessly destroyed things close to the heart of their keepers.

“Libre”, June 2013, by William (Bill) Hudson Temples, oil on canvas, was handcrafted for the 10-year anniversary of the Con A de Arte, in Charlotte in June 2013. Bill Temples is a Charlotte resident.

“Taurus” (red), “I myself” (natural color), “Beuys Hare” (green color, gold leaf), and “Horus Eye” (blue),  by Bodo Berheide, all are made of recycled newspaper, all are imprinted, except for Beuys Hare, which is sculptural.

Berheide, born in Oberhof, Thuringia, Germany in 1944, lives in Wuppertal. He studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.  One of his teaches was Joseph Beuys, one of the most prominent artists in postwar Germany.

Berheide is a painter and a sculptor. His main œuvre is Figura Magica, a huge magnet (6 MT) shaped like a horse shoe which traveled over all the continents of the world.

Just one remark regarding the green sculpture “Beuys Hare”: Beuys became famous when he enacted a performance piece at the Galerie Schmela in Düsseldorf on November 26, 1965, which was called ''wie man dem toten Hasen die Bilder erklärt'' (How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare).

Uschi Kirchhoff calls her art “Flying Art”.  This is well reflected in her paintings, all of them acrylic on canvas.  Kirchhoff lives in Olching, outside of Munich, Germany.  Being born in Bamberg, Upper Franconia, she is a true Bavarian; part of her life as an adolescent woman, she spent in the U.K., where she went to school.

She works as Purser (P2) for Lufthansa which takes her around the world and which enables her to meet with a lot of different people. Her positive attitude towards life reflects in strong colors and strong brush strokes.

Wooden Sculptures

Wooden Figurines.  A Mexican Indian tribe, the Zapotecas believed that every human being who comes to the world is accompanied by a kind of animal protector (these are not necessary animals in the zoological sense but in a more configurative manner).

It was Pedro Linares Lopez, born in Mexico City in 1906, who was an artist and creator of the animal-like little paper-maché figurines,  alebrijes. He created these wooden sculptures among others for Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and other artists at the Academia de San Carlos. The wood used is from the Copal Tree which is found in  Southern Mexico.

The siblings Jacobo and Maria Angeles born in the small village of Tilcajate in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, where their studios are still located, have created a high form of artisanship in carving these wooden figurines and painting them by hand in an almost microscopic manner. Each piece is a most valuable unicum.

“Sein und Schein” (Being and Seeming), 2013, oil and acrylic, and ferritic powder on painting board,  by Dr. Birgit Wewers, artist and art teacher in Witten Germany

City Painting. This magnificent painting of the 19th century shows in its original frame a typical city view not unlike Venice. It shows everyday life of that period. The effects of the indirect source of light, the sun, are wonderfully depicted. The longer one regards this work, the more details it reveals (the hanging wreath, the sundial, etc).

The oil painting is in its original frame dating back to 1850-1870.

Regine Bechtler, born in Germany; she emigrated to the United States in the late 1990’ies which was also the beginning of her career as an artist.

Besides being famous for her ‘Peace Jackets’, she is probably the most versatile of all our artists: paintings, textile arrangements and sculptures made of –among others- wood, ceramic, paper-maché seem to find easily their artistic shapes in her hands.

“Ménage à Trois”: this is a recreation of a famous Roy Liechtenstein painting(”Nudes with Beach Ball”) – in Bechtler’s imagination. It is oil on canvas.

“Untitled # 4274”, 2004, by Hiro Yokose, oil and wax on canvas (encaustic),Yokose was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1951. He has had solo exhibitions in many major American cities:  New York, Chicago, Boston and La Jolla.  His works can be found in various museums, galleries and the corporate offices of Boeing, Microsoft, Citibank, Exxon, The Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington D.C. and at Goldman Sachs in San Francisco.

“Challenger”, a horse in gracile trot, is a piece of art made by Joshua Tobey. The material, bronze, which seems to glow from the inside if illuminated right, makes it a true master piece. The artist grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as son of renowned ceramic and bronze sculptors Gene and Rebecca Tobey; he received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. At 36 years old, Josh is in the meantime well established in the Western Art World creating bronze sculptures of wildlife featuring contemporary patinas.

Horses from Munich grazing on the carpet

“Invitation”, by Karen Hollingsworth, oil on canvas.  Hollingsworth was born in 1955 and grew up in Atlanta, GA (where she attended The Atlanta College of Art).

She is famous for WindowScapes and RoomScapes that often show objects/rooms bathed in strong sunlight, “transforming simple human things, chairs, beds, paper bags, into objects of beauty”.

A Collection of Fine Original Indian Paintings

zurück