LINED

Torsten Ruehle filters and lines the world. Classical interiors or definable spaces serve as frames for action such as film backdrops that spring from a clear direction. A slightly surreal atmosphere is created by adding strange objects to the scenery that seem to have a life of their own. Thus, details with unreal dimensions are installed - machines, foam, clouds or figures whose actionism only becomes recognizable at second glance, for instance when delicately drawn arrows or waves become visible. The images, which at first glance appear rather static due to their line marking, are thus set in motion - or when some objects occasionally smile or float. The present appears as a montage of modified realities. By being founded on thick lines, the objects are shifted into a certain abstraction that produces its own vibration in both colored and white versions. In the pictures, there is a growing tranquillity and restlessness at the same time, which arises from the multi-layered play of the contoured form with its content and colour reduction. In addition to classical oil painting and drawing on canvas or photographs, light boxes are a recurring theme. The elaborately collaged light pictures continue the theme of the line, which here usually appears entirely in white. Again, lines are the defining element of strange constellations, originally hand-painted and not digitally generated. In addition, there are adaptations of photographs that have flowed into the original motif idea. As in the oil paintings, a very special tension arises between the plastic content of the picture and the two-dimensional, artificial line; in between lies a peculiar and unique effect. The lighting creates atmosphere in the room beyond the boxes - the lines become blurred.

Emil Otto Nardorff