Volker Rossenbach - Selma und Louis

“Selma and Louis” is a work from my series Women with Exotic Birds. It is digital painting combined with acrylic markers and watercolors.

This text, written by Marta Lock, a well-known Italian curator and art historian, leads into my art cosmos.

The Narrativism of Volker Rossenbach, between art-historical references and a tendency toward interdisciplinary expression

There are life paths and stances of some contemporary art figures 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 merge to offer an unusual perspective precisely because of their ambiguity regarding placement in a single field. Not only that: there are artists who, in addition, add the absolutely contemporary need to measure themselves against less traditional, less orthodox means — if we may call them that — which therefore differ markedly from the resulting painting style and yet are incredibly harmonious and located in a modernity that has become indispensable. The protagonist of today is all of this and much more, for he draws on his deep knowledge of art history and literature, and blends both, drawing on the intuitions and theories of 20th-century avant-gardists.

In the first decades of the 20th century, cultural society had to witness, with reluctance, how all convictions, certainties, and rules that had shaped art up to then began, in a movement called Dadaism that originated in Switzerland and then spread to other European countries, to assume a desecrating, satirical, and polemical stance toward the art system of that time. Aside from the resulting visual representation, which was based on the ironic transformation of any object into a work of art, the novelty lay in the introduction or rather the connection of other disciplines into the experimentation, which authors such as Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, and Marcel Duchamp considered crucial for the entire movement. Theater, 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 limit itself to using the intuitions of its Swiss forebears, but decided to also introduce many other techniques that could be connected with art, as a foundational movement like Arts and Crafts had anticipated shortly before. As times changed and society underwent a profound transformation, it became necessary for the director Walter Gropius to incorporate subjects such as architecture, theater, graphics, advertising, weaving, metalworking, and many other disciplines into the curriculum, which, while it was considered craft, were in complete harmony with art in its highest and most comprehensive sense. Although the Bauhaus formally oriented itself toward De Stijl, its path underscored the importance of merging different forms of expression, through which it was possible to connect and introduce those innovations that began to take hold in 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 harness light waves to generate indefinite and abstract artistic lines; these experiments were only the beginning of digital art, which was initially hindered and regarded as a lesser form of expression because it was accessible to everyone. Today, however, it has perfected itself and requires particular craftsmanship. It finds numerous applications, from art to graphic design and advertising to multimedia installations, especially for artists who like to experiment and merge different techniques, and has earned its place at the forefront of the contemporary art world. The German artist Volker Rossenbach has had a professional career that constantly brought him into contact with innovations, but also with his intellectual and cultural vitality, thanks to which he has engaged not only with art but also with literature and history — areas that have always been intertwined with a classical, almost Renaissance-like visual language, which, however, makes use of digital technology. The endless possibilities that digital art now offers and the need for a return to a classical and traditional aesthetics—so to speak, in contrast to the beginnings of its practical application—shape his visual style, produced by a fusion of drawings and photographs enriched with filters and textures, which are then scanned and assembled into an image with Photoshop and Illustrator; onto which he then applies acrylic paints, felt-tip markers, and chalk by hand to give the work its final appearance. His latest works are inspired by motifs from international literature with strong narrative character, which he mixes with quotes and references to masterworks of art history, with his ironic viewpoint and his interpretation, linked to reflections on current topics, not missing. It almost seems as if Volker Rossenbach wants to emphasize that the past, despite outward differences, is ultimately not so far from the present. This may be the deeper meaning of the designation he has chosen for his art, for his painting approach, which is composed of the latest mixed technique, namely narrativism, in which the artistic tradition studied over the years becomes the interpreter of references to philosophically-narrative thoughts from authors around the world, provided they are in accord with the moment of execution and at the same time refer to the sociological and personal observation of a world that seems to be running too fast to pause and appreciate the beauty of savoring a single moment. This line of thought runs through the work “Mystworld” (Self-portrait on the Myst island), in which Volker Rossenbach positions himself with his back to the camera in a setting that resembles the famous work by the German Romantic Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog; Unlike the 19th-century artist, this work is here enhanced with metaphysical details that symbolize that everything, even when clearly visible and not shrouded by the fog, can still be an inexplicable mystery, unless one has the patience and will to pause and look deeper than surface perception. The jacket recalls the overlays of emptiness and fullness in the surrealist visions of René Magritte, while at the bottom right one can recognize one of Giorgio De Chirico's figures; the work essentially presents 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 emerges, 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 places the image of a painter in the foreground, who, because of her ability to live with pain, but also because she has profoundly shaped 20th-century art history, is regarded as an almost supernatural heroine — I am of course speaking of Frida Kahlo. Beside her, in a futuristic world, the author adds a humanoid woman, a projection of what humanity might look like tomorrow in a context where the vitality of nature is perhaps diminished by today’s lack of respect for it. The magic to which the title refers thus traverses time, breaks down boundaries, and enables a cross-cutting perspective that can become a warning to give more attention to the future while always keeping in sight the harmony and vitality of the past. Siddharta, on the other hand, has a double meaning, for on one hand it presents a visual synthesis by Volker Rossenbach of Hermann Hesse’s masterpiece to which the title refers, and on the other hand it expresses his deeper meaning, for which the small novel became famous at the time of its publication, namely the search for oneself, the longing to find oneself, the pride of the individual toward the world and history, in a time 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 rested; 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 due to the Hippie philosophy, because of which the book was often seen as a symbol for 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 or Grey, founded his own agency, E/B/D, in Düsseldorf, and his works, including the great Coca-Cola campaign from 1976 to 1978, were awarded multiple times. From the more experimental works of his early career, he has now arrived at a more figurative and traditional view, while always maintaining his inclination to use and mix innovative and unconventional means of expression; he can point to participation in group and solo exhibitions in Germany.

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.

National and International exhibitions.
Further information at rossenbachart on the net