Judith Sturm | Diploma in Fine Arts | Master student of Prof. Bodo Baumgarten | Curator of the Galeria HMH – Mallorca | Spain

Colour Space and Multilayeredness - Under the Skin

Judith Sturm | Diploma in Fine Arts | Master Student of Prof. Bodo Baumgarten | Art Curator of Galeria HMH - Mallorca | Spain

My painting revolves around questions of truth and reality, surface and depth, both in relation to the theme of female beauty, female bodies - wrapping and covering, posing and acting with clothes - and on a pictorial and compositional level, where many layers of colour and glazes work with and against each other, which is reinforced by the use of monochrome areas of colour and playful patterns such as polkadots or stripes.

The result is a painterly multi-layeredness and colour spatiality - despite the almost lack of perspective and the use of silhouette-like, almost striking figures in the pictorial space - only through a conscious examination of colour and form compositions.

I systematically pick apart a photo template, cut out important details in my mind's eye and then rearrange them on the canvas.The pulsating, restless skin of the bodies is created by applying and washing out salty colour glazes - salt and water - the primordial soup of all life serves as the basis for my works. This way of working supports the examination of the complexity of life as well as ideals of beauty and transience. The vanitas motif resonates through the skin tone and disturbs the eternally youthful-looking, pliable and well-proportioned bodies.

The painted skin polarises: pulsating life versus age spots , sunburn, injuries or simply abstract or informal structures in the background?

What one sees on the surface is not the only thing, perhaps not even the important or essential thing, and certainly not the true thing.

Cyndi Lauper, one of the most dazzling pop icons of the 1980s, describes this debate poetically and impressively in her song "True Colors":

But I see your true colours shining through

I see your true colours and that's why I love you

so don't be afraid to let them show

your true colours, true colours

are beautiful like a rainbow*

*Excerpt from the song lyrics "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper