Hartmut Kuhnke, "New art", Stadttheater Fürth, Fürth, Bavaria, 28.05. – 01.07.2000

[Hartmut Kuhnke]

Fürther Nachrichten, 2000, MARGIT LANGENBERGER

Cannibals and drunken Kings

Yearning for other worlds: Hartmut Kuhnke's pictures in the Stadttheater oscillate between witty ironic and romanticly spun

On the Lofoten in Norway usually a misty weather prevails. Mysteriously wafts of mist hanging over the lake. A humanly stature stands on the shore and looks at the apparition, which is hovering above the lake. It is no reflection, but a metaphysical phenomenon. The human sees itself out there for a second time, or his soul, which has taken shape.

At least that is the content of an oil painting by the artist Hartmut Kuhnke presently showcased in the Stadttheater. Kuhnke's interest lays mainly in the magical, mystical worlds, scenarios at which the spectator can take a break from everyday life. Kuhnke dedicated himself three techniques and three subject areas starting with witty-ironically over critically until towards a weird romanticism. There are firstly his spontaneously, very intensely coloured pastels, which he "intuitively" did created as he says. Often it seems to stand at the window at night, looking out into the black nothingness, and cause a sudden idea. A whole series of pastels has these night-black background against which figures cavort in the troll and fairy world. Its characters communicate with each other, and often it is important that some falls by the wayside, because the other is the stronger.

Then, he likes the work on woodcuts, which for him a kind of "halfway house" between oil and pastel painting represents. Here fascinates him the craftsmanship and from the simplest flower pictures up to complicated compositions is his entire repertoire to discover in the print graphics again. There's firstly the drunken king with his dog then when he is tired of life, he ascends into heaven (of course with his dog) on the earth he lets bottle, crown and dog feces behind and ascends. Here's the image of the cannibal, into whose mouth people tumble by their own choice "I always had been afraid of them" says Kuhnke, "there are just too much of them".

His romantic streak hits in the oil paintings, along with the desire to create own new worlds. In the complex multi layer glazing technique he builds up here landscapes and architecture to a partially surreal fantasy world. With the bright glazes he wants to achieve that you can see how the air literally vibrates and flickers. And he succeeds well, for example in the "resurrection at la Roche-aux-Fees." This is a huge passage grave in Brittany, with a megalith under which the entire fairy realm, goblins and other strange creatures have gathered together surrounded by jungle-like fauna.

When asked whether his worlds also are possible to be visited by world citizens, the artist answers: "Whoever finds them also will be able to visit them". Whoever finds also the Stadttheater may dare visit Hartmut Kuhnke's exhibition.