Quitting time Print

Josef Hammen is a contemporary realist painter whose works are part of private collections in Germany and abroad. Some of his pieces have also been acquired by museum. He gained greater recognition through his daily painting project, “Trier – Scenes of a City”, which lasted 366 days, from December 2015 to November 2016. Artist Statement "In my art, I aim to express the joy I find in what I see and experience. In most cases, it is the beauty of the things I encounter—sometimes even the unassuming perspectives and excerpts that are not considered beautiful in a conventional sense. With my paintings, I build a mosaic of small fragments and snapshots. My goal is to see the familiar in a new light and to make the overlooked visible. I enjoy how images and stories emerge from the patches of color. The final result sometimes surprises even me—those are the moments when I feel particularly satisfied with a painting. I work with oil paint because I appreciate its brilliance. Many of my paintings are square and small, which aligns with the concept of daily painting. The square format helps me create a specific aesthetic. "Seeing in squares" is both a challenge and a playful exercise. Often, I deliberately seek out my motifs—sometimes, the motifs find me."