Brunch, Art & Conversation 1

BRUNCH, ART AND CONVERSATION, No. 1

with

NADJA POPPE

22 July, 2018

Location: Showroom Spreefeld
Wilhelmine-Gemberg-Weg 12, 10719 Berlin

I use to call my portraits ‘external’, but within time, they became ‘internal’ portraits. Form and the balance of the pictorial elements are important for me. This manifests itself through sharpness and blurriness, light and dark, depths and plains, transparency and density.

During my studies of Chinese calligraphy, I began to draw Portraits in Indian ink on rice paper. Using only Indian ink in a very generous fashion led to an abstraction of the portraits, the figurative.

I now work exclusively with black color: Indian ink, charcoal and graphite on paper and with gouache on canvas. Especially gouache and graphite offer a large spectrum of gray tones, with which I can explore plains, lines and structures. The eraser is as well an important tool for finding the picture. For my portraits I use life models and dolls, and/or the memory of them. The landscape became an important part in my work, which I see as a portrait too. Independent of the seasons, I sit outside opposite my model (landscape) and draw.

Amplitude and empty spaces are essential elements of the Chinese philosophy, and became important values for me. Black areas and gray areas, as well as empty spaces are equally important in playing a role in the overall picture composition. Form, figure or landscape can, but don’t have to, be recognized upon the first gaze. Adding and taking away, or erasing, happens on multiple layers. Often, during second viewing, one can discovers something else behind a black, often a special depth the images have. Sometimes this can be a bit disturbing.

Nadja Poppe, 2018

Photos ©Nora Novak Photography