Vast spaces of color open up behind the sinuous interweaving of lines and shapes in Elsbeth Böniger‘s latest paintings. They resemble enchanted landscapes or, as the titles suggest, «Eisdecken» (ice sheets) or «Schlote im Meer» (vents in the sea). Then more abstract: a carpet with investment chips, where complementary green meets red, flickering, iridescent, “proliferating” like flows of money elsewhere. The colors bathed in glistening light in the pictures «Die geheime Matrix» (The Secret Matrix) may also allude to something profound. They shine out of the background through a thicket of color applications, which sometimes appear plant-like, sometimes ethereal. In the painting «Nicht ganz dicht» (Not quite dense), on the other hand, we are transported into a dense or “not quite dense” plantation, perhaps into the interior of a forest. The leak, the lack in the sense of the not always manageable, is also of eminent importance in the interaction of the paint application with the painting ground – the oil and acrylic paints with the aluminum plates: through the different painting and drying processes, through the shaping and deformations during the artist’s intervention as well as under the influence of various chemical processes. The applications of paint testify to a special physicality, a corporeality that is often expressive, but also sometimes delicate, sometimes two-dimensional, sometimes linear. Through their complexity and density, both the artist and we may find our own new paths again and again.

Elsbeth Böniger passionately collects materials and impressions and draws her inspiration and pictorial ideas from them. She is equally fascinated by surface phenomena such as the reflection of a mirror or a literally almost impenetrable, multi-layered application of paint. In the creative process, planning and perfection come alongside chance, which in turn can be guided by experience in dealing with the material. In this respect, there is something alchemical about Elsbeth Böniger’s painting, which sometimes appears in the imagination behind closed eyes.

«Central Park» or the «Flat Iron» Building in New York, the «Gd. St. Bernhard» (Great St. Bernard) or simply «Reisen» (Travel) and the «Atelier» (Studio) bear witness to places, motifs from near and far that inspire Christian Indermühle ‘s photography. As much as his shots from the road or his arranged images are not simply everyday. For example, the iconic New York skyscraper towers up behind a seemingly dense forest, as if in a state of reverie. Nature, albeit domesticated, meets an icon of building culture from the beginning of the 20th century. Thanks to the rarely chosen location in the adjacent Madison Square Park with its trees.

Christian Indermühle has always been interested in architectural shots in the landscape, resulting in images of captivating uniqueness and beauty. By focusing on certain light-shadow ratios, the tectonics of the landscape appear modeled, even sculptural. The massif of the Great St. Bernard, for example, appears in places like a soft blanket. Often the places become subtly dramatic settings, such as Central Park with the groups of people in the shade of the trees. They may be reminiscent of Michelangelo Antonioni’s film «Blow Up» or Edouard Manet’s famous painting «Breakfast on the Green» (1863), each of which is related to other works of art. Christian Indermühle’s paintings are a kind of archetype, timeless documents of the world. But they also tell of its constant course, of becoming and passing away. Processes such as those are expressed in the photograph «Atelier», with a painting by his partner Elsbeth Böniger, which is still in the making.

Marc Munter (2024)