HEIKEDINE GÜNTHER
Core Paintings
For each core painting Heikedine Günther begins with a gold primer, which she applies in two layers directly onto the raw canvas.
She mounts them with the untreated back up on the stretcher. The finest, the gold, is being applied to the raw canvas and creates a luminous, radiant surface as a pure, almost paradisiacal starting point for each new core image. Günther is consistingly using natural pigments, that she is binding herself. This does not only allow her to work with the most vibrant and rich shades of colour. It is also enabling her to introduce a special craquelure technique at some points, opening up the paint to expose the colour underneath the cores. The core itself arises in a kind of inversion, like the canvas it is painted on. The reveiling of the hidden inner core, is done by superimposing up to ten layers of oil paint. The gold itself seems repeatedly to break through back to the painting surface, especially at the core margins, and together with the interplay of the different layers of color, gives each core an intrinsic image depth and radiance.
She mounts them with the untreated back up on the stretcher. The finest, the gold, is being applied to the raw canvas and creates a luminous, radiant surface as a pure, almost paradisiacal starting point for each new core image. Günther is consistingly using natural pigments, that she is binding herself. This does not only allow her to work with the most vibrant and rich shades of colour. It is also enabling her to introduce a special craquelure technique at some points, opening up the paint to expose the colour underneath the cores. The core itself arises in a kind of inversion, like the canvas it is painted on. The reveiling of the hidden inner core, is done by superimposing up to ten layers of oil paint. The gold itself seems repeatedly to break through back to the painting surface, especially at the core margins, and together with the interplay of the different layers of color, gives each core an intrinsic image depth and radiance.
Core No. 430, Nov 2020, oil on canvas, 170 x 180 cm
Core No. 373, Aug 2020, oil on canvas, 170 x 180cm
Core No. 426, 2020, oil on canvas, 180 x 120 cm
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Core No. 431, Nov 2020, oil on canvas, 170 x 180 cm
Core No. 372, Aug 2020, oil on canvas, 180 x 170cm
Core No. 424, 2020, oil on canvas, 180 x 120 cm
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Core No. 440, 2020, oil on canvas, 118 x 236 cm
Core No. 328, 2019, oil on canvas, 130 x 120 cm
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Core No. 272, 2019, oil on canvas, 130 x 110 cm
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Core Monotypes
During the process of painting, when a picture layer of one of the core painting reaches a strong iconic quality in its own, Günther creates a hand-rubbed monotype from the still wet canvas before veiling it with the next layer of paint. In contrast to the condensed surfaces of the core paintings, the core monotypes capture the immediacy of the gestural brushstrokes. It is left to chance, which traces of paint are getting transferred to the fleece.
Core No. P-c 423, 2020, oil on fleece, 179 x 118 cm
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Core No. P-c 424, 2020, oil on fleece, 179 x 117 cm
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Core No. P-b 437, 2020, oil on fleece, 99 x 209 cm
Core No. P-a 308-309, 2019, oil on fleece, 110 x 140 cm each
Core No. P-b 316, 2019, oil on fleece, 140 x 110 cm
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Core No. P-b 300, 2018, oil on fleece, 165 x 110 cm
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Core No. P-b 372, 2019, oil on fleece, 89 x 169 cm each
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Core No. P-b 373, 2019, oil on fleece, 170 x 89 cm each
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