Each of Florian Pelka’s paintings tells its own, tricky story – and not all of them are as easily understood as Sleeping Beauty’s Dreams. As described in the Brother Grimm’s fairy tale, the young lady wakes up, the glass coffin shatters, the blood red rose hedge opens up to make way for the young man who is to wake her up with a kiss. Yet, where is the young man? And what does the gnome with a pointed cap want? What about the shady figures with their wide eyes and long ears? And, most of all: why is the poison-green frog the central character, although he plays only a minor role in this story? Well, the scene is, as the title instructs us, a dream of the young lady, and dreams follow their own logic.

The figures and objects in Florian Pelka’s paintings are, by themselves or in their combination, often irrational and fantastic. The principal consternation, however, is caused by the colouring. Colours dominate the scenery. They are bold, shrill, psychedelic; they seem to be inspired by colour TV or neon signs. A fiery red and a fresh blue are contrasted by a vivid green, a sunburnt yellow. These colours demonstrate their own value, not only as palpable paint material on the canvas; they have detached themselves from physical things and are objects on their own. They snake, as three-dimensional ribbons, through the pictorial space, wind as living creatures between objects and figures and question all realism.

Colour, which – in contrast to subjects or styles – is „eternal“ in a way, supports the aspect of the timelessness which is already given by Pelka’s fabulous, mythical issues: the artist names his works Venus, Leda, Sleeping Beauty, or Night and Fame. At the same time, the paintings are completely contemporary, rooted in today’s world, and here, too, paint plays a major role, with its special colouring and the way it is handled: the expressive gesture is always shaped by the moment of its origin. It is this combination of timelessness and complete presence that characterises the paintings. One can sense the artist’s endeavour to contrast the hectic present time, the ephemeral moment with something that remains. And the recognition that this cannot be achieved, precisely because everything must pass away, gives the works a certain melancholy.

For further information please visit the artist’s homepage: Florian Pelka.

Biography

biography

Solo exhibitions (selection)

Group shows (selection)