The Artist
Painting is an expression of my joy of life.
Ute Meyer, born in December 1957
Visual artist
Second state examination in art for secondary schools, PH Flensburg
since 1999 studio in Flensburg
Art therapist, art projects in the field of open youth work
National and international exhibitions and collectors
The paintings can be found in Germany, Denmark, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Croatia, USA, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Painting is a recurring theme in my life.
I discovered my enthusiasm for watercolor in my early twenties while studying art education. At the end of the nineties, I deepened my involvement with oil painting. I like to work very impasto with a decisive brushstroke. This gives the paintings a powerful expression. The three-dimensional application of paint creates a shadow that changes the pictures over the course of a day depending on the incidence of light.
Plein air painting
I like to be by the sea or in the garden, these are also my favorite places to paint. Over the years, I have developed a way of working outdoors that enables me to finish large-format canvases in one go. This allows me to capture the mood of the day. This makes every picture special. The constantly changing weather conditions and the changing light conditions influence the painting process and the composition of the picture, delaying or accelerating it. I love these exciting challenges.
Working in the studio
The figure and macro studies are different: these works are created in my studio in Flensburg. I first explore the subject with my camera and observe it closely. Only then do I move on to painting. I paint macro studies, such as feathers, for months. I enjoy the unfolding plasticity of the forms as I apply the layers of paint. In contrast to the plein air paintings, the works created in this way capture a moment in time.
My paintings express elements such as clarity and liveliness, depth and expanse. I have been exhibiting my paintings since the early 2000s and am delighted with the response
Current exhibitions
Reflections on the artistic work of Ute Meyer
You will look in vain for gimmickry and manipulated emotions in Ute Meyer’s work
Experience-based observation and precise reproduction of what has been experienced give rise to works that do not seek to create impressions and emotions by distorting the object and the colors, but rather convey the emotions of a moment or a period of time to the observer with great precision by means of accurate reproduction of the color spaces, conscious perspective and sophisticated painting technique.
The artist is able to capture these moods, translate them and express them in her works. However, it is necessary for Ute Meyer to experience these moments, because without a complete and conscious experience of the moment, a truthful reproduction of the mood remains unsuccessful.
Her pictures of the coasts of the German/Danish Baltic Sea and the Shetland Islands therefore often bear witness to the success of this process. The works are often created directly in the situation, i.e. on the beach or in the garden. Animal and macro studies are painted from her own photographs in the studio and completed through constant shaping.
In terms of content, Ute Meyer proves to be almost a singularity in comparison to other artists, especially contemporary artists, because her central theme is not the depiction of conflict. Where art and artists set out to reveal conflicts, suffering or inequality, Ute Meyer takes a different path: conflict is rare in her work and when it does appear, it is usually in the form of coming to terms with and overcoming it.
For many years, I was of the opinion that art should, if not be the content, then at least be the driving force behind it.
In the meantime, I see Ute Meyer’s approach as at least an equal and wise alternative. She conveys harmony, offers solutions without asking about the problem; she transports the beauty of nature and does not succumb to attempts to misappropriate it or load it with an additional agenda.
The human being is not the center of her work, sheer duality is not the subject, no ideology clouds the canvas and no abstract struggle seeks to capture our attention. What we can find on Ute Meyer’s path, however, are shared moments of experience, energies of nature and harmony bound on paper, canvas and wood, carefully gathered and curated like a beekeeper’s harvest.
Thobe Appel-Sünder in February 2018