Page 46 - Katalog Sigrid von Lintig 2020.indd

Sigrid von Lintig: Sigrid von Lintig:
Between the towers and swimmers I did a series of still lifes. And Generally speaking, painters can regard themselves as resear-
some large-format paintings, which at first glance show ordinary chers who make discoveries through painting, i.e. by bringing
objects, like what’s on your breakfast table. I used the monu- something to light, and that exploratory vein seems particular-
mentalizing method I’d developed previously to turn a knob of ly pronounced in my case. My studio is my lab, where I wholly
butter beside an egg cup into an event. But it was the blurring immerse myself in the object of my investigations. The setup
that produced the decisive painterly effect, freeing me up to dis- for my experiments always looks similar, and yet new facets
regard details and open up the view to take in the surrounding always emerge to pique my interest, so I explore them in full.
atmosphere. In their exaggerated colors, the still lifes somewhat I experiment with the swimmers’ movements, for example, their
resemble “aura photographs”. I tested the dissolution of objects body language, which evokes various emotions in the viewer, or
in light here, which came to form a bridge to my Swimmers. the distortion and optical fragmentation of their limbs, which
never ceases to fascinate me. Now, in hindsight, the habit of
Esther Niebel: going swimming every day strikes me as a purification ritual, as
You produced the Swimmers series after having made a habit of an existential leap from the pressure of the atmosphere here on
going swimming every day. You repeated this ritual day in, day terra firma into the flowing, undulating “Ocean of the Undines“.
out. A daily recurring experience of and in the aqueous element, Over time, swimming and painting have become two sides of
in which perceived space and time take on a different meaning. the same coin to me.
With your head under water, you perceive space differently: the
outside world is filtered out, you – and your swimmers – are left
to your own devices. What is your connection to repetition and
what does it mean to you to paint variations on a motif again
and again?

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