This was not my first encounter with Bernd Heinrich’s art, I saw it here and there, in several group shows. And every time, I would stop in front of his work and stare at all the details, the moving colours, the calm energy radiating from his paintings.
When I saw on my “Gallery and Museum list” that a full Bernd Heinrich exhibition was showing in one of my favourite art places in Sydney, the Manly Art Gallery & Museum, I naturally took the ferry to go there.
It was a small exhibition, with less than a dozen paintings displayed in total; very memorable though.
I love his compositions, with delimited horizontal coloured fields, and horizontal thicker lines of paint. More diluted paint dripped vertically to create a complex textural feel to these artworks. Bright shapes are also dancing on the canvas, partly hidden behind the colours, suddenly catching the eye, all different in the technique used: crayon, paintbrush, spray+stencil… Abstract shapes like strange everyday objects, familiar and appealing.
But what strikes me the most each time with Bernd Heinrich are the colours: vivid red here, yellow there, a blue window in the middle, a joyful ballet where elements freely bump into each other; sometimes the colours are framed by some deep black and bright white, creating some sort of landscapes in which one could easily – and happily – lose himself.
For me, Bernd Heinrich’s art is inspiring, nourishing, free of negative tension or violence, complex and beautiful at the same time… brilliant!
Spring Day, 2015
Oil on canvas
178x96cm