Preparing for the 21st Century

In 1998 I decided to move on. With seven years of concentrating on the 20th century behind me I wanted to focus on the 21st..

First of all, we were approaching the next millennium. This was a good reason to let that era of violence slip into the past and look ahead.
Secondly, I was aware my series Heroes and Villains was going to be an eternal project, not only because of my time-consuming working procedure, but also because of the subject itself. Like an unfinished painting, the result is a fragmentary series which may give pause for reflection.
In the third place, I wanted to address my contemporaries in an easily accessible way and in a language that we all speak.

This series deals with the changes caused in our society by computer science, telecommunication, advertising and globalisation. Furthermore, there had been a change in morality, perhaps even an erosion.

I have added some perspective in my most intriguing series of art, concealing the ‘grid’ where possible. Did not Goethe say: ‘In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister?’

What will the 21st century have in store for us? The art of painting will probably survive all storms.

September 2004

Postscript september 2019

My work, Public space, made in 2011, links Preparing fort he XXlst century and my current work together.