An intertwined mesh of amorphous forms spreads out across the wall like moss. They grow together like open structures whose edges resemble rugged coastlines. The meticulously coordinated palette ­– anthracite gray, velvet black, forest-floor green, blue-gray, ocher, and off-white – helps further anchor these organically shaped structures within the realm of our natural world. Images of tree bark, lichens and stony textures begin to sprout in the viewer’s mind. When one takes a step closer to Verena Freyschmidt’s work, the macrocosm of the form in its entirety reveals itself to be harboring microcosms of fine structures. Gradients and agglomerations of color, hatching with white paint and strokes of ink come together to form a composition that is not only abstract, but also sparks your imagination. As is the case when staring up at the clouds, entire worlds are waiting to be discovered within.

The smallest element of these rhizome-like structures is a single stroke: the line. Numerous lines. In their seemingly endless repetition, they consolidate into individual formations that merge together into one overall structure, reminiscent of fractals. This term refers to geometric patterns that exhibit a high degree of self-similarity, which is the case when a structure consists of copies of itself at progressively smaller scales. The copies, however, do not have to be identical, fractal geometry can be applied to natural elements such as tree growth or coastlines. This analogy explains the peculiar sense of familiarity that emanates from Verena Freyschmidt’s work ­– because the aesthetic residing within them is one that has been known to mankind since ancient times, it is what determines the structures of the world around us. With her work, the artist investigates the correlations underlying all things. Without becoming depictive in the sense of realistic painting, she deals with the fundamental structures that are continuously repeating on both small and large scales.

 “Creation or reflection are not here an original ‘impression’ of the world, but a veritable fabrication of a world which resembles the first one, not in order to copy it but to render it intelligible.”1 The French philosopher Roland Barthes formulated these thoughts with a view towards structuralism, yet he could just as well have been referring to the work of Verena Freyschmidt. The structures she creates in her working process deal with the fundamental principles of growing and becoming. As a result, they provide us with insight into the world through the medium of art. As the same time, these works refer to an aesthetic that indeed underlies nature, one that comes even more strongly to fruition in the work of art due to its accentuation.

The artist’s pursuit of knowledge is also reflected in the process of creating her work. These artworks are not developed from an outline, but rather they emerge from the shapes themselves. The starting point for her work is pouring paint on paper. Then this is transferred as a monotype, pressing it onto another sheet of paper, or directly onto the wall, which then serves as the basis for her subsequent creative processes. With this method, it is interesting how she deliberately utilizes chance. The poured paint cannot entirely be controlled by the artist.

 Verena Freyschmidt then further elaborates on the resulting structures in a painstaking process involving endless repetitions. Stroke by stroke, the hand carries out a roughly similar motion that nevertheless reveals minimal variations each time. This kind of processual work enables the production to be conceived as an action – the emergence of the work is no less important than the result. The constant repetition leads to a state of intense concentration, or rather to a kind of contemplation that is necessary in order to continuously develop the idea of the piece even further.

There is a long tradition of making use of controlled accidents for art. Even in the Renaissance, the painter Sandro Botticelli recognized its potential. Leonardo da Vinci famously told that Botticelli would throw a sponge soaked in paint at the wall and use the resulting blotches as his source of inspiration. In these structures, he “recognized entire cosmos […], cliffs, oceans, clouds, and forests.”1 About one hundred years ago, happenstance blossomed once again. The surrealists made use of chance systematically and methodically, as they experimented with alternative methods of producing an image, such as frottage, grattage, decalcomania, or collage.2 Verena Freyschmidt plays this game of chance but now ups the ante even further. In her works, she produces a synthesis between the creative potential of chance to bear fruit in art and the patterns of organic growth derived from nature. This amalgamation opens up a sensorial understanding of the underlying systems of the outside world to the viewer. In multiple variations, she continually orbits around a field of artistic research and drives forward a process that is manifested in a variety of ways in her work.

In the series titled “Wood,” she also deals with the topic of growth. Instead of using artistically produced structures, in this case the starting material is naturally grown: Wooden boards are used as the support for the painting. The striking patterns of their grain are extended and consolidated using a pencil, thus generating new connections and ultimately producing shapes and formations. However, in contrast to the sprawling free forms, these are contained within the traditional panel format. The remaining segments of the wooden board surrounding this form are then painted over with white acrylic scumble, the structure remains in its natural habitat.

The “Nachtschatten” series, which was also produced on wood, represents an inverted version of the way she deliberately uses chance in her works on paper and on walls. White monotypes are pressed onto wooden boards covered with black paint, then further elaborated with numerous layers of colored drawings. This sparks associations with galaxies viewed through a telescope just as much as with microorganisms under a microscope. Small or large, microcosm or macrocosm? The perspective that is chosen by the viewer results from the various associations and correlations that may arise.

This oscillation between the micro and the macro, as well as the constitutive power that is wielded by chance, are two aspects that find astonishing correlations in the natural sciences, for example in physics, where chance and randomness have long been accepted. Not only that: “one of the fundamental theories of physics, quantum mechanics, is based on the concept of indeterminacy.”1 What is fascinating is that the uncertainty at the quantum level nevertheless yields precise laws of physics on the macro level.2 In this respect, there are also parallels to Verena Freyschmidt’s works that arise, because she solely employs chance in the inherent microcosms of the images, that is, in the production of the individual fragments that yield an entirety only through their summation. Some of these fragments lie next to each other, some overlapping in various layers, and although there is no perspectival space constructed in her pieces, they produce a sense of spatiality due to the layering of surfaces. This spatial impression is further strengthened by the shadows cast by her works on paper, a result of the distance between the paper and the wall. Boundaries between different forms of art are casually and playfully transgressed. Are we dealing with pictures or sculptural objects, painting or drawing?

Ultimately, these kinds of definitions are of marginal importance though. What is far more essential is the sensorial and aesthetic connection within these works to the essential principles of being. They reflect a search for knowledge, a dash towards the fundamental principles of the world. That is why the title “Scapes” is so fitting. Derived from “landscape,” it not only refers to its literal meaning, the surface of the Earth, but also to contours and form. Therefore, the title reflects precisely the openness embodied in these works, between geometry and landscape, natural science and coincidence, objectives and free associations.

 

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1 Roland Barthes. “The Structuralist Activity” In: Critical Essays, 1972, p. 215. Roland Barthes describes his concept of structuralism here. The term structuralism itself describes methods of investigating structures and relationships in cultural systems of signifiers.

2 Leonardo da Vinci, Trattato della pittura, Ettore Camescasca (Ed.), Milan, 1995, §57, p. 54, quoted from Horst Bredekamp, Der Bildakt, Berlin 2015, p. 312.

3 Cf. Kito Nedo, Kalkulierte Kontrolle, in: Art. Das Kunstmagazin, July 2018, pp. 18-37.

4 Manfred Eigen: Introduction to the German edition. In: Jacques Monod, Zufall und Notwendigkeit. Philosophische Fragen der modernen Biologie, Munich 1972, p. XI.

5 Ibid.