At the vernissage of “Not for Sale” the youth stands out. Up-and-coming artists and their friends bring momentum and celebrate exuberantly. Rejuvenation was the plan that Marta Zientkowska-Schulz announced a year ago as the head of the cultural association – and has apparently implemented successfully. She herself is showing the brand new portrait of her son Alexander, the oil paints aren’t quite dry yet. A Christmas gift not sold to strangers but given to your child. The boy already knows that. His heart beats faster with pride.
Hearts can also beat differently. 20-year-old Cosima Schindler makes this clear with her exhibit: a heart divided into two parts with two red chambers and arteries and veins. The origin of the picture is not two hearts in one breast, nor tacky love, but an operation. Cosima Schindler always knew about her heart disease. In the sleep laboratory, the need for heart surgery emerged. A traumatic experience, just before graduation. But also an enrichment, because this operation has provided her with an artistic theme. Now she paints her surgical scar under her breast and takes a closer look at the inner parts of her being. She is currently applying for a place at university with her very personal picture of the heart. Therefore it is not for sale. It is still needed.
A traumatic experience connects the 20-year-old Cosima Schindler with her work, which shows a broken heart.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
The picture “New Beginning” by Laura Manno is very similar. It is not for sale, a new beginning in two senses. Like a fantasy figure, algae, bacteria and spines rise out of dark deep-sea water. Laura Manno wanted to trace her own form of expression in the original forms of nature. In addition, her studies at the art academy started with this application picture. It is the origin of a phase of life, a new beginning. “Staying true to yourself and honesty are important and conveyed to the buyer,” says Laura Manno.
The painting “A special dance” has a special meaning for the artist Peter Hill.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
Peter Hill does not sell his painting “a special dance”, although it was created in record time. The body tension and movement in the dance are fleeting and so captured in Hill’s image. Without conscious thought, just like following a hunch in a dance, that’s how creativity works.
Discop also spontaneously follows his intuitions. He quickly paints a paper cup and puts an exhibit label next to it. Unfortunately, the audience doesn’t pay much attention to it. His work “Midnight Club” in the glass table showcase all the more. There are four Matchbox cars parked on painted tiles. But at the same time the arrangement seems strangely artificial. The reason is the matt colors and the manga style, which is conveyed from a distance. Discop himself stands next to him in his balaclava because he wants to remain anonymous. He has only been active in the graffiti scene for a year and has already attracted a lot of attention. He made a name for himself as “Banksy from Oberschleißheim”. This was followed by cooperation with the police, which shows great humor with the support of the “Paranormal Investigation Unit”. For their part, Discop and the other young participants in the group exhibition show great respect for the older artists. The different techniques and ways of thinking offer the opportunity to learn from each other and to exchange ideas.
Matte colors and manga style: the work of graffiti artist Discop.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
So Christa Tucci shows two clay figures with the title “Walk across the fields”, which she does not sell. They look like Minoan fertility deities. Without arms, without faces, but dressed in colored glaze, composed of rectangular fields and rivers, the objects embody nature.
Ulrike Steigerwald’s photographs are also born out of nature. They appear very elaborate and artificial. What is enthroned there, monochrome in sepia tones like a net of taut threads on a peculiar paisley background, is in reality a rotting pumpkin in a field. The artist had to slow down because of a herniated disc, and suddenly she noticed things in her surroundings that she had never noticed before.
The exhibition succeeds where others often fail: there are many young people both among the artists and the visitors.
(Photo: Leonhard Simon)
Overall, the “Not for Sale” exhibition is forward-looking. This applies equally to the artists and to the cultural association. For the young generation, the value of their work lies in the future, sometimes the cultural association itself is also a future value for the young generation. An anonymous artist who wants to be visible as a member of the association, at least in the regional area, struggles with the question of naming. Like the well-known graffiti artists Loomit and Lando, who are showing paintings at the exhibition, the young woman also tends to use a pseudonym. Due to social media and a new awareness of the scope of publicity, the willingness to risk one’s bread job with one’s own work has not exactly grown.
“Art – Not for Sale” can be seen until December 18th in the gallery of the Puchheim cultural center, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., Tuesday also from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.