Solitaire III - Bodleian Library, Oxford Painting

Book with a split spine. A manuscript (approx.12. Century), that came from Germany to England during the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century and is now in the archives of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. On my journeys through libraries and archives, I frequently discover books in secret nooks, in dusty corners or behind ropes that stand out because they are so unusual. I may be drawn by the fragility of a limp-bound volume, a spine damaged by fire, a vivid red silk binding with a tear, or edges with ribbons that hermetically seal the contents of the book. I made one of my first discoveries in March 2009 in the Humanist Library in the Alsatian city of Sélestat. Quite well concealed on the bottom shelf of one of the bookcases at the back, lying flat in the beams of the midday sun and squeezed in between other tomes, there was a very special book. It had been on the shelf for such a long time that it had become bent and warped. One of the covers had already come away. The bands had been torn off on one side and were hanging down, the book block was split, all that remained of the binding was a scrap of light blue-green leather. The peeled spine seemed like tree bark. If you had taken this book off the shelf, it would have completely fallen apart without its neighbours to support it. That was the moment at which I had the idea of liberating this unusual book from its surroundings and portraying it larger than life using artistic means. A few weeks later, the first human-sized painting was complete. The enlargement had made details such as damage, spots, tears and signature structures visible while clearly underlining the unique nature of the painted book-object. It is this uniqueness that gave the name to a whole series of pictures that I developed over the years that followed. „Solitaire series“. After this, I found myself constantly making exciting discoveries in many German and European libraries from St. Gallen and Weimar to Oxford.

Painting:Gouache on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:26.8 W x 64.2 H x 0.8 D in

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