Volker Rossenbach - PortraitModern3XX

The Narrativism of Volker Rossenbach, between art-historical references and a tendency toward interdisciplinary expressiveness

There are life paths and attitudes of some representatives of contemporary art that lead to the insight that the figurative approach does not necessarily have to be separated from the literary, philosophical, historical, and sociological approaches, so that they can unite to offer, precisely because of their indeterminacy with regard to classification in a single domain, an unusual perspective. Not only that: there are artists who also add the absolutely contemporary need to measure themselves with less traditional, less orthodox means — if one may put it that way — which thus differ clearly from the resulting painterly style and yet are incredibly harmonious and located in a now indispensable modernity. The protagonist of today is all of this and much more, for he draws from his deep knowledge of art history and literature and blends both, taking up the intuitions and theories of the twentieth-century avant-garde.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, culture society had to witness, reluctantly, that all beliefs, certainties, and rules that had shaped art up to then, as a movement called Dadaism, which originated in Switzerland, began to take on a desecrating, sarcastic, and polemical stance toward the art system of that time. Apart from the visual representation that resulted from the ironic transformation of any object into a work of art, the innovation lay in the introduction or rather the connection of other disciplines into the experiment, which authors such as Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, and Marcel Duchamp regarded as decisive for the entire movement. Theatre, photography, collage, and photomontage were the synergies anticipated by the Dadaists and later adopted by the Bauhaus, the great and revolutionary school of applied arts of the Weimar Republic in Germany, which did not merely rely on the intuitions of its Swiss forebears but decided to introduce many other techniques that could be connected with art, as another, earlier fundamental movement, that of the Arts and Crafts, had already foreshadowed. As times had changed and society had undergone a profound transformation, it became necessary for the school’s director Walter Gropius to incorporate subjects such as architecture, theatre, graphics, advertising, weaving, metalworking, and many other disciplines into the curriculum, which, while deemed artisanal, stood in perfect harmony with art in its highest and most comprehensive sense. Although Bauhaus formally oriented itself toward De Stijl, its path emphasized the importance of the fusion of different forms of expression, through which it was possible to connect and introduce those innovations that began to take root over the years and especially after the end of World War II. One of them was computer art, created by a mathematician and a philosopher, Ben Laposki and Manfred Frank, who used oscilloscopes to generate light waves in order to create undefined and abstract artistic lines; these experiments were only the beginning of digital art, which was initially hindered and regarded as a inferior form of expression, because it was accessible to everyone. Today it has, however, perfected itself and requires particular craftsmanship. It finds numerous applications, from art to graphics and advertising to multimedia installations, especially for those artists who like to experiment and merge different techniques, and has earned itself a place at the forefront of the contemporary art world. The German artist Volker Rossenbach has had a professional career that has constantly brought him into contact with innovations, but also with his mental and cultural vitality, thanks to which he has engaged not only with art but also with literature and history — areas that are always intertwined with a classic, almost Renaissance-like pictorial language that, however, makes use of digital technology. The infinite possibilities that digital art now offers, and the need for a return to a classical and traditional aesthetics — in a sense, the opposite of the beginnings of its practical application — shape his visual style, which arises from the fusion of drawings and photographs enriched with filters and textures, which are then scanned and assembled into an image with Photoshop and Illustrator; on which he then exerts manual influence with acrylic paints, felt-tip pens, and chalk to give the work its final appearance. His latest works are inspired by motifs from international literature with strong narrative character, which he blends with quotes and references to masterworks of art history, where his ironic view and his interpretation, connected with reflections on current issues, are not missing. It almost seems as if Volker Rossenbach wants to emphasize that the past, despite superficial differences, is ultimately not that far from the present. This may be the deeper meaning of the designation he has chosen for his art, for his painterly approach, which is composed of the latest hybrid technique, namely narrativeism, in which the artistic tradition studied over the years becomes the interpreter of references to philosophically-narrative ideas from authors around the world, provided they are in harmony with the moment of execution and at the same time refer back to the sociological and personal observation of a world that seems to move too quickly to pause, in order to contemplate the beauty of savoring a single moment. This train of thought runs through the work “Mystwelt” (Self-portrait on Myst Island), in which Volker Rossenbach places himself with his back to the camera in a setting that resembles the famous work by the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich with the title “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog”; Unlike the 19th-century artist, however, the work here is enriched with metaphysical details that symbolize that everything, even if clearly visible and not shrouded in mist, can still present an inexplicable secret, unless one has the patience and will to pause and look deeper than superficial perception. The jacket recalls the overlays of emptiness and fullness in René Magritte’s surrealist visions, while in the lower right one can discern one of Giorgio De Chirico’s figures; the work essentially represents a synthesis of Volker Rossenbach’s life, a long journey through art history and the most captivating literary works, from which the message of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in “The Little Prince” arises, namely that what is essential is invisible to the eye. In the work “The Forest of Magical Beings” he combines the vivid beauty of nature with the presence of tropical animals such as parrots, toucans, and chameleons, and centers the image on a painter who, due to her ability to live with pain, but also because she has profoundly shaped the art history of the 20th century, is regarded as almost a supernatural heroine – I am of course speaking of Frida Kahlo. Beside her, in a futuristic world, the author inserts a kind of humanoid woman, a projection of what tomorrow’s humanity could look like in a context where the vitality of nature may be weakened due to the modern human’s lack of reverence for it. The magic to which the title refers therefore traverses time, breaks down boundaries, and enables a cross-cutting perspective that can serve as a warning to give more attention to the future while always keeping in view the harmony and vitality of the past. “Siddharta” has, on the other hand, a double meaning, for on one hand it represents a visual synthesis by Volker Rossenbach of Hermann Hesse’s masterpiece to which the title refers, and on the other hand it expresses its deeper meaning, for which the small novel was famous at the time of its publication, namely the search for oneself, the longing to find oneself, the pride of the individual against the world and history, in a period immediately after World War II when every certainty and every point of reference had been lost due to the atrocities of the Nazis. In the work the entire mystical and Oriental atmosphere that characterizes the novel is expressed, as well as the symbolism of freedom and the reference to the true, highest and spiritual essence on which Siddhartha’s insight and ability to self-analyze were based; The mystical aspect of the figure at the center of the painting is made even more impressive by the use of vivid, saturated colors, which is attributable to the hippie philosophy, because of which the book was often seen as a symbol of the values of a movement that changed the world. Volker Rossenbach completed his studies in graphic design in 1969 and, after working as an Art Director and Creative Director for international agencies such as Leo Burnett and Grey, founded his own agency, E/B/D in Düsseldorf; his works, including the large Coca-Cola campaign from 1976 to 1978, were awarded numerous times. From the more experimentally oriented works of his early creative years he has now shifted to a more figurative and traditional perspective, while always retaining his penchant for using and mixing innovative and unconventional expressive means; he can look back on participation in group and solo exhibitions in Germany.

Text: Marta Lock, Italy. Art historian and curator.

This work, PortraitModern3XX, is from the series of my portrait works The Representation is based on a drawing of a living model.

My paintings are located in the following countries: USA (New York, Phoenix, Miami, Springfield, Santa Barbara), Canada (Montreal), Singapore, Taipei, Finland, Italy, France, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Austria, Luxembourg and many places in Germany.

Exhibitions National and International.
Further information at rossenbachart on the internet