“Deep and simple…”
Paul Zimmerman in conversation with Reinhard Stammer
Paul Zimmerman: How did you develop interest in art?
Reinhard Stammer: I have been drawing and painting since my early childhood and it was a long time ago. I painted naturalistically very early on, but I started abstracting at the age of 16. Wanted to study art. But life had different plans for me. Painted and experimented until I was 52 years old. At the age of 55, due to a serious illness, I sold the publishing house I had founded and realized what is really important to me: art! I had many life experiences and they began to unfold in my pictures. My painting style changed rapidly and today I have found what I have been looking for for so long. I have always been drawn to cave painting. It’s so immediate and authentic. So are my pictures today. Simple and strong!
PZ: What is the most challenging aspect of your work?
RS: To stay unaffected and by myself. It is the moment that counts and not the structure of the mind. I learned that in my Zen exercises.
PZ: What work do you most enjoy doing?
RS: I came to Cy Twombly via Klee, Picasso, Pollock, Basquiat
PZ: What is your artistic process? How do you create your work?
RS: Very, very spontaneously.
PZ: Do you have any particular goal in mind when your start a new piece?
RS: Never!
PZ: How do you know when your artwork is finished?
RS: It’s an impulse.
PZ: Have your practice changed over time?
RS: From figurative and morbid painting, sometimes very colorful, to mostly monochrome, abstract scratching on the painting surface.
PZ: How would you describe yourself as an artist?
RS: A bit old and young at heart. Always on the lookout that I do not stand still in my art.
PZ: How would you define art?
RS: Deep and simple.
PZ: How does the pandemic influence your work and sensibility?
RS: I don’t see a pandemic. I recognize a crime against humanity. There is no such thing as a pandemic, just a PCR test that aims to turn healthy people into sick. A great reset is taking place here, which has been staged in favor of the few difficult empires in the world. It affects me so much that I hardly paint anymore, but invest my remaining energy in the fight against this crime. Artist friends and I want to get together and dedicate our art to this task.