R II Painting

"Art is Art. Everything else is everything else." Ad Reinhardt Barbara Rieder is a serious Artist, with a capital A. She pursues her art with sensitivity, calm and - yes - perseverance. She works mainly in series. She has one signature trait: She doesn't limit herself to one style. She changes freely from Abstract Expressionism to Constructivism right up to strikingly figurative portraits. There is the series called "Structures". Mid-sized canvases that are covered with multiple coats of paint with various tools until a chapped surface is achieved through which all the other layers of color are visible. A risky business because every further coat of material can either kill the painting or give it more life. Its all up to the expertise and know how of the artist. She uses color hues inspired by nature: Earthy colors, Natural Sienna, Burnt Umber, flowery Yellow. Magical landscapes emerge. Then again, through cold Blue and Green with lots of White cloud formations seem to pass by. Very different her series "Stripes". Tight geometric shapes, squares, stripes in various widths in often contrasting color combinations. Their strict tectonics bring a pleasant organization into the paintings while the treatment of color is similar to the "Structures". The contrast is fascinating: The building blocks are joint exactly not unlike a well made brick wall but wild color games are displayed within. A stringent Yellow with Sap Green, simmering Carmine Red contrasts with Cobalt Blue intermingled with spotty White. Mottled Red and Orange are held in balance by a bar of Burnt Umber while a vibrating yellow plane is background for a latch of Blue/Violet shooting onto the surface from the right and bringing the picture to life. These are paintings of bubbling energy held together by the forces of geometry. And now for contrast: "Les Meufs", an expression straight out of French "argot", an affectionate word for Women. The first impression recalls the "Modern Woman" of the Twenties of the last century, archetypes, icon-like representations of females. The manner of painting is strictly two dimensional, always from the front, with big, very big eyes and sometimes a little mysterious smile on their lips. These small paintings show an almost timeless image of womanhood. The apparently "naive" style of painting turns out to be a quite sophisticated means to show the Cosmos Woman in all of its diversity with the utmost parsimonious stylistic forms.