Grey before grey Print

The Magic of the Moment "Though we know of the invisible, i.e. assume its existence with some certainty, we can only depict an allegory that stand for the invisible that it is not." This is a quotation of Gerhard Richter, perhaps the most significant of contemporary artists. Understanding Sabine Liebchen's hyperreal paintings, which are apparently so clearly fixed in the here and now, as an "allegory for the invisible" - such a claim may at first be rather daring. However, those who are involved more closely with art, its signs, symbols and levels of meaning, already know just how often first appearances are deceiving. So, just what are these first appearances telling us in Sabine Liebchen's figurative and cool and elegant paintings? Initially, we perceive contemporary characters, obviously in the art of leisure. A young blond woman out shopping on her mobile, a woman walking on the beach - her light summer shoes in her hand, another young woman - seemingly waiting, a woman out jogging. The portfolio appears to be explicit and clear, but closer reflection and analysis give way to various levels of meaning. The paintings endorse this - they are open to interpretation and invite the observer and his fantasy to dialogue. It is striking that Sabine Liebchen's figures are portrayed almost exclusively from behind. These figures, obviously enjoying their leisure time, remain anonymous. Their faces are not identifiable and thus indefinable as individuals. Sabine Liebchen's figures can be conceived as symbolic figures, similar to Caspar David Friedrich`s (1774-1840) rear view figures standing representatively, depicting typical behaviour in consumerism and leisure. They could almost be described as the "allegories of leisure". Closer contemplation of these light, airy scenes shows that the painter has eliminated all needless details, i.e. she has concentrated on the essential, omitting the incidental. In short: She abstracts. Abstrahere (abstractum) literally means "to detract, "to pull away". An artist working in the abstract tries to separate the random from the general or essential (by abstraction or "detracting"). Photography, if you like, also abstracts because it does not give us "congruent" images of reality. Photo realists conveyed this intricate perception by projecting and copying colour photos on huge canvasses.