Artist Statement
I’m watching the stream of live by painting things.
Things support us, drive us crazy or ecstatic and finally they kill us.In the meantime I’m going by bicycle.
Life in Motion
On the painting of Andrea Harborth (excerpt)
Norbert Schrader, Berlin
Andrea Harborth’s latest paintings show people doing outdoor gymnastics, running, cycling, and cleaning. They also show objects from everyday life or animals. The objects and situations seem everyday and irrelevant. They do not refer to subjects from the art tradition. Decidedly banal picture titles suggest insignificance; some ironic-
Spread titles put some image themes into perspective.
The depiction is not naturalistic. The human figures do not have any individual traits. The pictures – although often with a biographical reference – do not tell stories with a before or after. Rather, they are figurations of the moment – the moment of movement or rest in space. This can be natural or urban, even an interior. The focus is set on an object that usually occupies the center of the picture, almost completely filling it. That’s what gives it its weight, its meaning.
The colors are usually not very subdued, sometimes bright. The line allows you to feel the momentum of the brushwork. In both color and drawing, many figures gain plasticity and a striking physicality; others remain outlined in black and flat. They always radiate dynamism and energy, and occasionally also a self-sufficient introspection. With the most physical forms, Andrea Harborth succeeds in condensing the uniqueness of the moment and giving the figures a depth in which their everydayness as well as their strangeness and mystery shine through in a strangely touching way.
Check out the examples of the cycling series -> past the Memorial Church to the sea
After completing my series of cleaningwomen-paintings I decided to build a cleaningwomen-fountain model.
A small aquarium pump, wire, paper mache, stuff from the hardwarestore and a plastic bowl were used.
The cleaningwomen-fountain model asked to be placed into a larger scenery, though, like into a town square. The name of this square followed logically. It had to be a model’s model because the cleaningwomen-fountain model for technical reasons is already quite big. Such a town square has to be decorated by a church. And when I begin to think about the church – oh well.
It’s called the Balancing-Justice-Square.
