Gideon Kiefer
A virtuoso draughtsman from an early age, Gideon Kiefer plunges the spectator into a world on the borders of dreams and reality. Talking about childhood, landscape and art history, his somewhat romantic timelessness however aims to gently warn us… of the ecological crisis. Kiefer has always liked drawing, something he does very well, he admits without false modesty, and learnt the art of engraving and lithography at a very young age. Though he also produces paintings, sculptures and installations, he always comes back to what he terms “the honesty of drawing”.
His prolific output includes both large and small formats, works in pencil, in felt tips or watercolour, in black and white or colour, into which he surreptitiously slips clues about what shaped his personality. His grandfather liked old paintings and used to bring home catalogues from the exhibitions he visited. As a teenager, Kiefer spent his time plunged in these books and developed a taste for Surrealism and Salvador Dalí in particular.
He could also feel the guiding lights of Caravaggio and Diego Velázquez, he adds, and admits a connection with Caspar David Friedrich as well. All these reminiscences mingle with images of the Flemish countryside and his childhood home…
“I like the idea that the images that nourished us may be fantasised about or may be malleable,” he says. “I am a little nostalgic, but I don’t hesitate to transform the past.” Whether they belong to the real or imaginary world, the artist plays on the distinctive details of his works, which nevertheless allow spectators to see all of their special effects…
Kiefer himself would shake up his drawings that could have been so perfect by erasing them or adding another medium or quotes.
He became conceptual when he made it a rule to devise one work per day and to ensure his words distracted attention from the line or colour. In this way, he hopes to raise awareness of global warming and stop the foolhardy race that is leading to the destruction of our planet.
By nature a romantic – his pictures of forests and glaciers testify to this – and someone who attaches great importance to the world of dreams, he nonetheless returns to reality and a possible future, which he reveals by omission. Take, for example, the figure of the bird, which is frequently depicted. It reminds him that the animal is a descendant of dinosaurs and, consequently, proves to be the sign of a dying civilisation. Kiefer’s world appears tranquil. The tones he uses are soft and soothing; his handling is calm and controlled, but the storm is never very far away…
(texte de Marie Maertens).
