Gerhard Hoehme

Gerhard Hoehme was drawn to space, both in life and in his artistic work. A place on earth was not enough for him - early on he became enthusiastic about flying, often spending more time in the air than on the ground - just as the canvas alone was not enough for him. He found it constricting and limiting his expression. His perspective while flying is reflected in many of his paintings, but it is only one aspect of his painting. The artist's main focus is on color. It is the all-determining element of his painting, its feel, its flow, its movement in space. With the bark paintings, in which he assembles scraped-off paint masses into relief-like structures, he comes closer to his desire for more spatiality, but it is not until the 1960s that he achieves a breakthrough into space by integrating nylon cords or wood. (ED)