andreja ernst | presse

Bericht auf meinbezirk.at

Hier klicken um den kompletten Bericht zu lesen

Bericht in der Lavantal Woche

The Art of Andreja ERNST

When viewing Andreja Ernst’s pictures, one cannot help but see the clear division of light and dark works. The light pictures are not merely light but bright, the dark ones not merely dark, but somber. These two aspects of her work are, in her own words, two sides of her personality, two ways of viewing the world.

Pictures, or paintings, are a way in which the artist communicates with the world, the viewer. More than this, Andreja’s method is twofold. Yes, she communicates her view of the world, be in light or dark, but in the making of the pictures, the canvas and those first strokes of paint upon it, communicate to her what they will become. ‘I never start with a picture knowing how it will finish’, she says. ‘Instead, after the first gesture, I begin to see the picture within the picture, and I follow it through to the end. Furthermore, I know instinctively when each picture is finished.’ The titles are revealing.

From Atlantis to Dancer, they are indeed suggestive of the painting’s content. Even before looking at the title, one can see images and according to Andreja, every viewer sees something different; sometimes these images coincide with the title, sometimes they do more than that. The gold falling like snowflakes of Dancer are reminiscent of the decorative elements of Austrian Fin de Siècle work, the bright splattering of paint and use of the palette knife in the lighter works of Abstract Expressionism. But there are also vertical works, which contain Asian-like elements and script.

The process of painting is one of becoming and therefore one of discovery. Painting has allowed Andreja to communicate her state of being through color and gesture, but it is also a way for her to tell us what she knows, without knowing.
There is much to discover.

Cristina Flitner / artist, restorer, San Francisco/USA
July 12, 2009