Number 8 Painting

Wilhelm likes to show us surfaces, walls and facades that have been exposed to natural weathering. It is the charm of the decay of facades, house walls and other image supports that he traces in his works. It is the ravages of time that gnaw at every surface and sometimes reveal new messages or old memories beneath overlying layers. His pictures symbolise the inevitable changes in life and are illustrated by the depiction of fragments such as cracks, plaster, paint, rust, paper, writing, wood and various traces of weathering. Secrets are brought to light through different layers on the facades. The artist also weaves cryptic symbols or "tags" into his facades, scribbles that people waiting or high-spirited young people have left behind out of boredom, to mark their territory or as a souvenir. Layer by layer, he intuitively applies the individual color zones, sometimes in a thin, glazed layer, sometimes with a generous spatula, covering individual sections with fabric, sketching fine lines and then suddenly tearing or scratching sections off again, revealing the substratum - the "primal ground."