Christian Kappertz

My Colour Philosophy

To me colour is not a static condition but a statement about its relations to the surrounding. A larger group of adjacent colour patches thus can be described by the differences between the single patches. I see these changes in the colour's characteristics as movements in the individual colour space of a painting. All movements together form a mesh of colour relations which can be transposed into any other colour space.

That"˜s what I do in my paintings: By subdividing the initial subject, a nature scene for example, into small colour areas I gain the raw colour patches. Before starting to paint I study all the movements in colour values and gradually compile the colour relation mesh. Then I set up the palette depending on the colour space I have in mind and finally transpose the colours while painting.

Even though the painting can differ extremely from the initial subject it will still keep a strong impression of visual reality. Remainig in a state of ambivalence between the reality of colour patches and representational aspects the artwork invites its perceptor to follow the process of painting and examine the mesh of colour movements in detail.