The idea for this painting goes back to a small shelter house for ducks in my vicinity. So it’s really existing! The topic is actually highly prominent these days. Generally speaking, refugees are looking for shelter. The old story of wealth and poverty: those living uphill in nice, secured villas and those living in an almost sinking hut down in the flooded terrain. The titled little hut here is entirely overgrown by plants. One could say nature is fighting back human destructive influence. The lawn in the villa’s garden is framed by lots of stems and branches of trees, which are highlighted by the late afternoon warm winter sun with sharp yellow and black contrasts on the right, some black, white, and blue contrasting networks of leafless trees on the left and some green and white patches of firs in the middle. Those trees are forming a nicely shaped garden leading to a small pond in the foreground, where it is dominated by a multi-angular, slightly tilted duck house. The surrounding pond seemed to be filled up by a chaotic mass of roots, leaves and branches. In its center, the viewer might finally spot a colorful drake, which is eponymous to the painting. The main topic, however, is highly political: where and how to give shelter to all those refugees who may follow the climatic crisis? Formally, I used a lot of quotes and influences from other famous artists like Graham Sutherland, Hurvin Anderson and Piet Mondrian and slightly Ernst Ludwig Kirchner too. But also Emil Schuhmacher seemed to have joined the scene with hints of informal art.
Duck Hostal, 2022, Oil on Canvas, 100 x 80 cm
