Failure … and then what?
Approaching the paintings of Roger Wardin
»His eye is a magic wand, which lends all things a magical character. One believes one glimpses lost cities, forests where spirits dwell.
(...) This mixture of fantasy and precise clarity
is particular to dreams. Th is master’s originality
(…) proves itself in that the manner of
painting seems to correspond with the level of
fantasy. Of the magical world it may not be
spoken more loudly or boldly.«
Max J. Friedländer on Caspar David Friedrich
Outgrowths of destruction and failure set the tone of Roger Wardin’s most recent paintings, the subject matter initially seems dark and hopeless. The artist is interested in places where crimes have been committed, in landscapes where people’s expeditions have failed and in people from the National Socialist period, which symbolize both an ideal and its elusiveness.
Wardin gets his visual stimulation from different media and eras. Paintings from the 18th century, such as Monk by the Sea by the German Romantic Caspar David Friedrich, inspires the painter the same way the fantastic literature of the Russian brothers Arkadi and Boris Strugatzki does, or the fi lms of the American director David Lynch or incidental photographs in the internet do, not to mention the inspiration from personal family photographs or documentary recordings of German history.
When Wardin uses a photograph for a composition’s point of departure, he reworks the image on the computer and often projects parts of it directly onto the canvas. Some motifs, in contrast, are created in the fi rst work phase with the primarily dark acrylic ground. Oil and spray paint are usually used for additional important accents, the lighting composition or the final touches added in later work phases. Wardin often tests out his subject matter as small variations. At the end, in his best works, monumental momentary views are created. Until a year ago the artist executed works concerned with light and color interchanges and the clear form of secular structures such as gas stations. The appearance of these buildings, however, became more and more abysmal. Since that time, his concern has shifted to places in which incomprehensible things have happened. These are deserted buildings, ruins, and destroyed landscapes, which no longer provide lonely creatures with a home or stability.
Strange lighting conditions shine through buildings and landscapes. Often it is several bodies of light that lend the scenes a surrealistic character. Are these witnesses from another world, aliens, or a promise of the future? Peculiar graphic structures emerge. Lights, which seem to be burnt into the canvas, sometimes even as cones of light, merely allow one to differentiate between light and dark, and situations seem to be frozen, as in a still from a film.
If the blurred forms have the character of the photographic reminiscences of a Gerhard Richter and the structures and compositions, particularly in the genre paintings with groups of children, have something of the roguish quality of a Sigmar Polke, then, when it comes to the subject matter of Roger Wardin’s apocalypses, one can be reminded of the German expressionist Ludwig Meidner. If political threats were the point of origin for this painter a century ago, then today there are a thousand reasons for employing the theme of the apocalypse. Deserted landscapes, abandoned buildings, forsaken creatures – Roger Wardin evokes decline in his most recent paintings, without giving up hope completely. Like the painters of the German Romantic, in particular Caspar David Friedrich, the black shadow is opposed to the glowing strength of light. For the painters of the German Romantic this strength provided comfort, promised recovery from troubled times, inspired by religious thought. In the end light prevails on the horizon in Wardin’s works as well, holding the upper hand over the darkness of failure in the, at times, apocalyptic seeming compositions. Whence this source comes is seldom the subject matter of artists in the 21st century, and Roger Wardin, too, consciously leaves this open to debate.
Sebastian Schwarzenberger, art historian
Translation: Marie Frohling
Roger Wardin
1971 born in Berlin, Germany
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Education
1991-1993 A levels, occupation as scene painter (German Opera, Berlin)
1993-1996 studies of Fine Arts at Staatlichen Hochschule der Kuenste Frankfurt am Main (Städelschule)Germany (Prof. Jörg Immendorff)
1996 studies of Fine Arts at Kunstakademie Duesseldorf / Germany (Prof. Jörg Immendorff)
1997-2000 studies of Fine Arts at Universität der Künste Berlin / Germany
2001 Master of Art Universität der KünsteBerlin / Germany
Grants
2006 Stipendium Columbus Foundation
2004 Karl-Hofer-Stipendium, Berlin
2003 Stipendium Stiftung Kulturfonds
1995 Erasmus Stipendium
Solo Exhibitions
2009 Into the woods
Galeria Six,
Milano
Art Rotterdam
Livingstone Gallery, Den Haag
2008 Quant A Moi – A clockwork orange
Galerie Willi Schoots,
Eindhoven
Vorgänge im Gebirge
Galerie Horst Ambacher contamporary,
München
Passage-New Paintings
Galerie Livingstone,
Den Haag
Art Amsterdam (Art Fair)
Galerie Livingstone
Den Haag
30 gegen 3000000
Malerei u. Skulptur aus Berlin,
Kulturforum
Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock
Zwischen den Orten
Galerie Börgmann
2007 303
Galerie Börgmann im Kunstverein Moers
Moers
Art Amsterdam ( Messe)
ARZ OT OLD
Galerie Stefan Denninger
Berlin
Kölner Liste ( Messe )
Tease Art Fair Köln ( Messe )
Angerichtet
Galerie Börgmann
Kevelaer
Prequel
Galerie Livingstone,
Den Haag
2006 Traces
Galerie Stefan Denninger,
Berlin
Planspiel/ Nachspiel
Atelierhaus Panzerhalle,
Potsdam
Braun- Vorwärts zur Realität
Galerie Ballhaus Ost,
Berlin
Abschlussausstellung Karl-Hofer-Stipendiaten
Galerie im Körnerpark (Katalog)
Berlin
The Path to the Black Lodge,
Galerie Börgmann
Kevelaer
Roger Wardin
Landesvertretung Niedersachsen/ Schleswig Holstein
Berlin
2005 Roger Wardin
Galerie Stefan Denninger,
Berlin
Internat. Hollfelder Kunstausstellung,
Hollfeld / Beyreuth
Roger Wardin/ Der gesamte Vorgang
Galerie Capri, Berlin
Kunstpreis Röher Parkklinik
(Auswahlausstellung)
Eschweile
2004 Stipendiaten der Karl Hofer Gesellschaft
Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin
fuck you its all flowers
Galerie turboplex, Berlin
Wardin/Johansen
Ausstellungsprojekt Westend, Berlin
Stiftung Kulturfonds März 2004
Künstlerhaus Lukas, Ahrenshoop
Stipendiaten d. Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft
Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft, Berlin
Group Exhibitions
2006
Planspiel/ Nachspiel
Kunst/ Landschaft/ Architektur
Atelierhaus Panzerhalle, Potsdam
Braun- Vorwärts zur Realität !
Galerie Ballhaus Ost, Berlin
303 in Digitation,
Galerie Börgmann, Kevelaer
Karl-Hofer-Stipendiaten
Galerie am Körnerpark,Berlin
2005
Stadtbilder
Galerie Stefan Denninger,
Berlin
Internat. Kunstaustellung Hollfeld
Hollfeld
Kunstpreis d. Stadt Güstrow,
Güstrow
Kunstpreis Röher Parkklinik
(Auswahlausstellung)
Eschweiler (Germany)
Kunstpreis der Stadt Güstrow
(Auswahlausstellung)
Güstrow (Germany)
2004
Stipendiaten der Karl Hofer Gesellschaft
Haus am Kleistpark, Berlin (Germany)
Stiftung Kulturfonds März 2004
Künstlerhaus Lukas, Ahrenshoop (Germany)
Stipendiaten d. Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft
Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft, Berlin (Germany)
2003
dis-positiv
Staatsbank, Berlin (Germany)
Kunstprojekt von Richard Jochum
2002
görls
Boppstr. 13b, Mainz
Der goldene Schnitt
studio Jörg Immendorff
2001
Malerei Architektonisch
Stiftung Starke/Berlin (Germany)
universal
Druckgrafikedition Druckatelier G.Margull, Berlin (Germany)
Wandmalerei
Oranienburgerstr.3, Berlin (kuratiert v. Jenny Rosemeyer) (Germany)
Die Vertreibung der Händler aus dem Tempel
2ykGalerie (Flutgraben Berlin), Berlin (Germany)
2000
genre painting
Johanneshöfe G7 , Berlin (Germany)
1999
Reversion des Sichtbaren
Malerei
Galerie Rudolph, Berlin (Germany)
Reset
Malerei+Video
Johanneshöfe /G7 , Berlin (Germany)
1998
Malerei I+II
Malerei,Zeichnung,Texte+Konzepte
Galerie Rudolph, Berlin (Germany)
1996
Malerei im Zeitalter elektronischer Bildwelten III
1995
Städel /Frankfurt a. Main: Klasse Immendorff
Ausstellungshalle am Güterbahnhof Frankfurt a. Main (Germany)
