Ralf Altrieth - Why not ? - XL

Acrylic and crayon with sgraffito on heavy ivory-toned paper
75 x 105 cm

Signed and dated on the back by the artist
Certificate of authenticity signed by Ralf Altrieth

The in-situ images are presentation suggestions created with AI based on photographs of the real work. The photographs of the actual object prevail.

DESCRIPTION:

A free, sensitive, and deeply living presence.

This original work on paper by Ralf Altrieth unfolds an instinctive universe where fragmented figures, drifting gazes, and animal shapes seem to appear and then disappear into the material. Between gentleness and graphic tension, the composition retains something immediate, which draws the eye for a long time without ever fully grasping it.

Direct and spontaneous lines dialogue with quieter flat areas, creating a work that is both expressive and poetic. The colors, deliberately restrained then suddenly pierced by livelier accents, give the paper a very particular vibration—subtle yet intensely present in an interior space.

The work possesses that rare quality of pieces that you do not look at only for their subject, but for the atmosphere they establish. Framed with a wide mat, it takes on an almost architectural dimension and immediately transforms the surrounding space.

At the boundary between free figuration, instinctive drawing, and plastic writing, this work testifies to a deeply personal approach, without easy decorative effect. A singular, inhabited piece that naturally finds its place in contemporary interiors sensitive to living and authentic art.

CRITIQUE:

"There is a great deal of poetry in this painting, as in all of the artist’s works. They are populated with narrative codes and fantastical tales. In this sense, Ralf Altrieth’s pictorial poems are a pure childlike chant... But the most astonishing thing manifested in these paintings is a communicative tenderness for the states of mind of the human being."
— Dr. Friedhelm Häring, museum director and art historian

"His gesture-based writing and color describe a world open to new voices and experiments never attempted. His canvases and works on paper demonstrate that painting remains a major expression of the contemporary scene."
— Laurent Puech, art historian and curator

BIOGRAPHY:

Ralf Altrieth (Heilbronn, 1966) is a Franco-German painter and musician recognized for his expressive, spontaneous universe, at the border of figuration and abstraction. Trained in his teens with painter Georg Schaible and then at the Nürtingen University of Fine Arts in the late 1980s, his work is distinguished by rare pictorial energy and a particularly sensitive language. His works are now held in numerous private collections around the world.

SHIPPING:

The work will be shipped rolled in a sturdy tube to ensure secure transport.
It is entrusted to an express carrier delivering to the home with full tracking and signature on delivery, to guarantee the best protection of the artwork until it is handed over personally.