“Painting colours”

Excerpts from the inaugural address from “Farben malen” at the Gallery »Thalhaus«, Wiesbaden on 02/27/2005

Leila Haas, Theater Membran, Wiesbaden, Germany
Leila Haas

Painting colours? Yes – to paint colours!

Or, more fitting: “exploding colours”!

I sincerely hope that you, ladies and gentlemen, are equal to the task of enduring the over-whelming richness of colours in Anna Bieler‘s paintings. Anna Bieler is dangerous, she is able to trigger off an avalanche out of nowhere.

You will be surprised to hear that the “colour”white is prominent in her paintings. It plays the biggest part in this orgy of colours. whitemakes the glowing red, the luscious yellow and the deep blue sparkle.

This white seems to be “warm” – what a relief compared to the brittle and chilly joints of contemporary art. Those joints are worn out and arthritic; they crunch and groan at every turn, bored and boring and worn out.

white in Anna`s paintings penetrates, it has a salutory effect and is bursting with energy. It is the white of noontime. Such is the light near the Atlantic on a hot day. Or on the shores of the Mediterranean. Everything is bright, without shade, and yet nothing is exposed. Secret things are protected.

When you have recovered from the first attack – the attack brought about by the powerful colours – watch out! Anna‘s paintings reveal themselves layer by layer, just as the deep sea, whose surface seems to be harmless, but underneath there is an undertow and a current. These paintings are filled with emotions and passion. Nowadays that is almost a sacriledge: to paint with passion!

Anna Bieler paints the pictures we produce in our dreams. You catch yourself seeing on the canvas figments of your own imagination.