Walter Diederichs
August 17 to October 09, 2015The 84-year-old artist Walter Diederichs has lived for 37 years in Freiburg's Villa Mitscherlich, a venerable building that was converted into an artists' villa 37 years ago.
Here he is surrounded by good spirits, and that means: inspiration. The Heart Center shows a fascinating selection of his paintings that revolve around a single motif, the dot. This in no way means that this is his central artistic theme. The versatility of his work is probably due to the stimulating atmosphere of the artist's villa. For example, mirror boxes with small figures can be seen in the display cases in the entrance hall of the Heart Center. He has also created many other works of art, including bas-reliefs that tell small and large stories with signs and faces.
Visitors are greeted by a riot of color. This could create a kind of pull effect. During the viewing, you don't just want to march towards the dots, but are tempted to immerse yourself in the patterns.
The color pattern is not as compact as it appears from a distance. Quite the opposite: the overlapping dots of color retain a slight transparency, suggesting three-dimensionality, as details show. These are friendly patterns that invite you to join them for a while
The attic floor has been transformed. The colorful ambience radiates and creates a pleasant atmosphere. A Diederichs dot pattern should hang in every hospital room, which will certainly speed up the recovery process.
The rich variety of his patterns is astonishing. In this acrylic painting, a small, lively cosmos seems to emerge from a tiny source of color - a color atom, so to speak.
The result could take this form, for example. Diederich's paintings cannot be characterized merely as colour patterns. They tell stories about the creation and coming together of different pattern continents.
The mirror boxes (plaster, wax, wood, foil) date from 1988. The figures are not only reflected in their boxes, but the display case itself reflects sections of the entrance area. This creates an unusual but extremely exciting overall composition.
The confusing labyrinth of mirrors is particularly expressive with several people. As the viewer's position changes, new figures constantly appear in the room.