The Artist
Ute Meyer, * December 1957
Painter
2nd state examination in art for secondary schools, Educational College Flensburg
since 1999 studio in Flensburg
art therapist, art – projects with young people
national and international exhibitions and collectors
In addition to Germany, the images can be found in Denmark, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Croatia, USA, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Painting is an expression of my joy of life.
Painting runs as a common thread through 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 pasty application of paint creates a cast of shadows that changes the paintings depending on the angle of light during the course of a day.
Plein Air Painting
I like to be at the sea or in the garden, these are also my favorite painting places. Over the years, I developed a way of working outdoors that allows me to finish large-scale canvases in one go. In doing so, I succeed in capturing the moods of the day. This makes each painting special. The constantly changing weather conditions and the changing light conditions influence the painting process and the image design, delay it or accelerate it. I love these exciting challenges.
Working in the studio
It is different with the figure and macro studies: these works are created in my Flensburg studio. I first explore the subject with the camera and observe closely. Only then do I proceed to paint. On macro studies, such as the feathers, I sometimes over months. In the process, I delight in the unfolding plasticity of the forms as I apply the layers of paint. The works that emerge in this way, unlike the plein air paintings, capture a moment.
Elements such as clarity and liveliness, depth and vastness are expressed in my paintings. I have been exhibiting my paintings since the early 2000-ies and am enjoying the response.
Reflections on the artistic work of Ute Meyer
Neither artificial sensationalism nor faked emotions are to be found in Ute Meyer’s work.
Proficient observations and precise visual capturing of experiences let her create paintings through which impressions and emotions are not conveyed by mere distortion of object or color. Accurate reproduction by use of fields of color, deliberate perspective and matured painting techniques let the beholder relive the emotions of a moment or a period of time with rich accuracy.
The artist is capable of grasping, compiling and then transporting these moods through her work. However, essential for this to happen successfully is that Ute Meyer is experiencing these situations fully. Without a complete and aware living of a given moment the true reflection of the mood must remain fruitless.
Her paintings and works relating to the Baltic coasts and the Shetland Islands thus frequently affirm the success of this process. Often the paintings are created on the spot, which is mostly at the coast or in the garden. Animal- and macro-interpretations are painted by use of own photographs in the studio and are meticulously completed in continuous procedures.
Content wise Ute Meyer’s work almost feels like a singularity compared to other artists, especially current ones. In her paintings conflict is never the modus operandi. As art and artists oftentimes wear themselves out to depict struggles, suffering or inequality. Ute Meyer is opting for another path.
Representation of conflict is a rarity in her work, but when it surfaces it takes the form of coping and proposed healing.
For many years I had the opinion that making art had to tear open, to confront if not as a presented topic then at least as the driving force. I changed my mind more and more over the years and today I am appreciating the path of Ute Meyer considering it to be an equal and wise alternative.
She conveys harmony, offers solutions without asking for the problem. She propagates the beauty of nature and does not fall for any attempts to alienate or charge nature with any additional superficial agenda.
The essence of her work is not the human being. The blank duality is not her concern, no ideology is clouding her canvas and no abstract battles try to draw our attention. What we can find within Ute Meyer’s path are shared moments of life. Energies fused onto canvas as well as paper, wood and other matter sharing with us the nourishment of nature and harmony, gently gathered and curated akin to the harvest of a beekeeper.
Thobe Appel-Sünder, February 2018