Spring exhibition of the Siegerland Artists' Workgroup

Duration of the exhibition: From May 11 to June 3 2007

Opening: Thursday, May 10 2007, 7pm
Welcoming speech: Mayor Ulf Stötzel
Introduction to the work: Susanne Kern-Terheyden, M.A.
Place: Municipal Gallery Haus Seel, Siegen


About the exhibition:
As is tradition, the Siegerland Artists' Workgroup, which has existed for over 80 years, presents a newly admitted member in a comprehensive spring exhibition.
In 2006, only one new member, Bruno Obermann, was accepted. In order to keep thinking as a collective unit, Obermann has requested the artists and fellow members Ulrich Bossmann and Eckard Putzmann to join him at this spring exhibition.

The three men share a lot in common:
They belong to a generation that grew up in the post-war period and have been living and working in the Siegerland for decades now. All three have been profoundly involved with art for many years and look back on an extensive exhibition history that extends far beyond the Siegerland region.

Die unorthodoxe Auseinandersetzung mit den Arbeitsmaterialien und die  eigenständige Umsetzung in ihrem Schaffen, teilen sie genauso wie die weitgehende Vernachlässigung kurzfristiger künstlerischer Moden und Trends.

Apart from an unorthodox confrontation with material and an independent implementation in their work, they also share a thorough neglect of fleeting artistic fashions and trends. With great patience and energy they develop their artistic oeuvre and set anachronistic signs in fast-paced times.
But it was not only these similarities that prompted Bruno Obermann to ask Ulrich Bossmann and Eckard Putzmann to join him in carrying out the exhibition. The similarities practically end with the very individual realization of the artistic conception. The results show exemplarily how similar prerequisites and work intent can lead to completely different artistic stances.

Ulrich Bossmann says of his work:
"I inquired the child who invented the rainbow. I migrate artistically on journeys of adventure and discovery without knowing exactly where the journey will lead, both pictorially and thematically."

Urich Bossmann nurses an ancient dream of humankind: dthe dream of flight. In drawings and paintings, collages and objects, he has described yearning, has designed flying objects, released them into the freedom of artistic imagination, from which they naturally originate, and taken the viewer along for the ride. In grand narratives and small hints, in bold colors, large designs, tiny details, he tells of what visual adventures one could experience, what it would be like to see the world from a different perspective at all. The trip is free or charge, but rarely without consequence, if the viewer really gets involved and let themselves be carried away by Bossmann's dream in pictures and objects. (Catalogue ASK "A-Z", 2003).

In a playful and witty way, Eckard Putzmann escapes to clear, but constricting specificity. He plays with the expectation towards sculpture (they must be big) and with their materials. His geometric objects, which are somewhat reminiscent of sports equipment, appear self-confident and expansive. In terms of their effect, they should actually be life-size. But they are minuscule. They assert themselves in their surroundings through clear, angular shapes and intense colors, unexcpected in such small formats. The fact that the objects are made of cardboard, despite their claim to impact and presence, creates an additional ironic tension: such a presence, and merely cardboard at that! Not even wood. Actually, it should be steel. But the impact is there. And the viewer has to position their expectations: The world is generally different... (Catalogue ASK "A-Z", 2003).

Moving on to Bruno Obermann, the new member to ASK:

Obermann is an individualist and a maverick in his artistic stance.
His decision to join the Siegerland Artists' Workgroup was not an easy one. Already in the eighties and nineties he gained experience in group work as a member of the Netph artists' group DIREKTKUNST. After that, he has worked for years, without ties to any artist community. 

Bruno Obermann is a passionate painter:
If, during the 90s, the process of painting was still very intellectualized, it loses this cerebral quality in current works. Free from this kind of paternalism, the work appears lighter and more transparent. Movement comes into play. The use of color is given more liberty. A gentle, almost pastel sliding of color surfaces into each other, covered and interspersed in rivers, allows the surface of the picture to merge into a sea of tranquility. Layers of color blend into a pictorial composition to which one could attribute the lightness of being. Bruno Obermann has reached a point with his painting where his pictures are enlivened with weightlessness. He has got there. He is on that path. Not mindless. But not frantically rational, either. Bruno Obermann wants to paint. He just wants to be a painter (Franz-Josef Weber, Catalogue Bruno Obermann, 2005).

Städtische Galerie Haus Seel
11.05.2007 – 03.06.2007

Municipal Gallery Haus Seel
May 11 2007 - June 3 2007
Why are the tomatoes yellow?
Paintings and objects by Bruno Obermann, Ulrich Bossmann, Eckard Putzmann
Vernissage: Thursday, May 10 2007, 7pm
Welcome speech: Mayor Ulf Stötzel
Introduction to the work: Susanne Kern-Terheyden M.A.

Künstlergespräch Sonntag 20. Mai, 14 - 18 Uhr

Municipal Gallery Haus Seel
Kornmarkt 20
57072 Siegen
Opening hours: Tue to Sun 2-6pm, Sat and Sun also 10am - 1pm
Person of contact for Kultur Siegen: Helga Dellori, +49 (0) 2714043057, h_dellori@siegen.de

Ulrich Bossmann: +49 (0) 271392493
Bruno Obermann: +49 (0) 27371519, obermann@freenet.de
Eckhard Putzmann: +49 (0) 02717711168, eckpu@aol.com

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Siegerländer Künstler e.V.
P.O. Box 10 02 40, 57072 Siegen
www.ask-siegen.de, info@ask-siegen.de