Ursula Prinz on the work of
ANGELIK RIEMER

... Angelik Riemer’s work is rooted in two traditions, in constructive art and colour-field-painting. The former originated in Russia in the 1920´s, the latter emerged in America in the 50´s and 60´s. Both trends had a great influence on European art. Russian Constructivism, when it was founded by Wladimir Tatlin, Naum Gabo and others, conveyed the revolutionary idea of building up a new society and through its stringent architectonic design affected the art of the 1920´s. Russian Constructivism was the primary opposing force of Expressionism in Eastern Europe and influenced later Western art movements, such as the Bauhaus. The rational approach to form was not only found in paintings but also in many other areas, such as furniture and design and it influenced a school of painters who called themselves `the Concretes´, amongst them Max Bill. In Berlin a number of artists have followed this movement since the 1920´s. This style of painting still has only few admirers, as its abstraction and absoluteness are contrary to the preference of realism and expressiveness in Germany to date. Angelik Riemer’s work, however, cannot unconditionally be attributed to this rational and intellectual school of art. Her way of painting does not follow fixed rules and legalities. Her self-imposed strictness prevents her from losing herself in the diversity of abstractness and colours. She acts as a corrective force to both feelings, amorphousness and chaos, for these are concealed in the infinite depth of the colour-fields. Artists like Mark Rothko, perhaps the greatest protagonist of this American school of art, or Ad Reinhardt with his black-in-black paintings, did not escape the danger emerging from their mysticism-oriented psyche, just as though one cannot touch the gate of infinity without impunity. Angelik Riemer seems to conjure up and simultaneously avert this danger. Her being-in-this-world and her joy of life protect her from falling into the abyss. Her art appears not as a conscious act of balance but rather draws its vitality from the process involved ...