SONNENFELD III Malte - Malte Sonnenfeld
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Malte SONNENFELD III
IN FRONT OF MY
SHOPWINDOW
by Malte Sonnenfeld
Almost everyone who comes to me Mönchengladbach, the city with
in my studio, whether I know this that certain nothing. But maybe
someone or not, has an opinion on more about that later.
art in general and on my art in
particular, even people who stray to More than four years ago, I moved
me only by chance or driven by into my studio in the „Pützgasse
curiosity. number two“ in Unkel and, together
Artists are generally fond of with Jochen Seidel, the organizer
interpretation. It is almost irrelevant of the "Unkeler Höfe", I also
whether these interpretations have founded a cultural workshop there,
to do with the work or not. The work where we invite well-known artists
is charged interpretatively by the to exhibit here.
viewer, which increases the value.
Basta. This is not much different in Curious people often drop in and
Unkel where my studio is located or want to engage me in expert
in my hometown Cologne. conversation, usually while I'm
sitting at the canvas and painting:
As a painting artist, you have to
listen to new creative outpourings "You know Bob Ross, don't you?
all the time. Whether you want to or The painter from America! The one
not. on Channel 9, ARD Alpha?!“
"Yes, I know him!"
Since I took part in the art weekend "Well, HE is a real painter."
"Unkeler-Höfe" for the first time six "Thank you..."
years ago, I have been drawn
there. Actually, I only need four or
places in this world: Cologne,
Pellworm Unkel and "My sister-in-law paints too...but
she also works at the insurance an espresso, and strolling tourists.
company." These on average middle-aged,
some of them actually still equipped
And already they are leafing through with Nordic walking sticks, belly belt
the smartphone and I have to endure bag, new hiking boots and with wide
some unattractive photos showing hips. They stop briefly in the
the smartphone owner in garish Pützgasse to take a photo. Not of my
Bermuda shorts. Then finally we studio of course. They take photos of
arrive at the 40 or so pictures of the the Pützgasse itself: this
sister-in-law, which her relative picturesque, beautiful escape
presents to me applaudingly like a towards the Rhine. With
trophy. I try to escape in my mind cobblestones, half-timbered houses
and try to think of something else, with hanging baskets and with the
but always get back to the picture: tables in front of the wine tavern "Im
Adult Education Center watercolor Lämmlein".
class, second lesson. And now and then my studio glass
The classic artist's question, though door squeaks and a tourist couple
a bit aged, is still relevant: stands in the room.
After I have then told a little about
"That's all well and good what you're my work, she says:
doing...but what do you actually do "I prefer to read... historical novels."
for a living?" I'll have to remember that! Soon I will
go to a bricklayer and ask him what
or he does for a living. And when he
answers "Bricklayer!", I will tell him:
"You've actually sold paintings "Bricklayer. Aha! Well, I for my part
already? Then you've been lucky." prefer to live in log houses!" and will
…Well, being an artist doesn't have walk away with my head held high ...
the same status as other trades. in the meantime I continue to paint
and watch the people in front of my
While I sit behind my large shop shop window and will report again in
window and paint at the easel, they the next catalog.
pass by: hurried locals on their way
to the Doc, workers from the
Greenfield Office, Peter, the landlord Best regards,
of the Wine Tavern „Im Lämmlein“ (In
the Little Lamb), who gives me a Malte Sonnenfeld „fast so etwas wie prousts eclair“
friendly wave and will later bring me acrylic, mixed media,
120cm x 80cm
AFRAID
OF
ART
acrylic, mixed media, 70cm x 100cm
... AND A LOT OF CREATIVITY
by Dr. Thomas Ebers
A studio visit in the rhenish Unkel, which was obviously not in the sense of the 2019 acting
weather god: thunder, lightning as well as raining streams lined the way. Despite the divine
goings-on, nevertheless arrived and immediately felt at home at the sight of the pictures.
(The person Malte Sonnenfeld supports this congenially, by the way.) A visual language that
works with well-known pop-cultural memes, mostly placed in original pictorial contexts and
encompassing meaning-creating and -disfiguring word and sentence formations. Here Willy
Brandt, Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Goethe, Max and Moritz, Mr. Rossi, Uncle Sam, Super Mario,
Superman, Salvador Dali and many more cavort in differently collaged environments.
A first drawer:
Neo Pop Art; colorful, comic-like pictorial landscapes that create meaning between the lines
and depicted elements, which often only presents itself to the second or third glance. A
wonderfully successful use of aesthetic and intellectual sense. In reference to Karl Marx's
famous eleventh Feuerbach thesis, the following motto could be added to Malte Sonnenfeld's
works when viewed from the outside: "Artists have only represented and imagined the world
in different ways. What matters is to comment on it."
The second drawer:
In these artistic commentaries, however, no unreal or even logically contradictory sceneries
come into play. Rather, they simply do not correspond to the expectations and expectation of
the viewer. Malte Sonnenfeld's art can therefore be called "paradoxical art" in the best sense
of the word, for paradox etymologically denotes something contradictory to ordinary
expectations. This art is far from surrealism, symbolism, and from behind-the-scenes, though
not from behind-the-scenes. Rather, Malte Sonnenfeld's art draws attention to the
contradictory, the illogical, or even the usual that should not be usual.
„It started in the cities“ ,acrylic, mixed media, 60cm x 60cm
In the drawers:
Malte Sonnenfeld's civil name is Michael Koslar. Under
this name he already practices the not very civil
professions of tv-speaker, author and host. Under the
pseudonym Malte Sonnenfeld, he has been visible to the
public as a visual artist since 2010. Good for the public.
(The title is based on a quote by Malte Sonnenfeld, which
can be found on his website www.maltesonnenfeld.de:
"to make money with art you need: ideas, contacts,
persuasion, patrons, contacts, courage, contacts again
and possibly creativity.")
Dr. Thomas Ebers studied philosophy, sociology and
comparative religion at the Rheinische Friedrich-
Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn. In 2009, he was awarded
his doctorate there with the dissertation "Schreckliche
Freiheit und Verantwortung. Reflections on the Recovery
of a Philosophical Concept of Guilt," earning him his
doctorate. He lives and works in Bonn.
„Schauen Sie schnell
„Fuck Deko“ woanders hin“
acrylic, mixed media, 30cm x 100cm acrylic, mixed media, 60cm x 80cm
DAS
WIRD
BÖS
ENDEN
acrylic, mixed media, 80cm x 60cm
„Ja, aber…“ acrylic, 40cm x 100cm
MANY THX! and subversive-provocative way, which he Sonnenfeld succeeds in "jecke (id est:
by Robert Reschkowski medially transposes with the heroes, icons cologne saying for crazy) works“ and an
and ciphers of the global media universe. original-original art, which are able to inspire
Thereby he reaches into his immense memory us and last not least to entertain us in the best
fund of his personal media-visual way.
"socialization"! His pictorial inventions and
Malte Sonnenfeld is not only a dazzlingly
visual-thematic condensations are carried by
versatile personality and appointed Pop Art Many thanks Malte!
irony and wit.
artist, but also a very likeable and endearing
person. Born in Cologne, he skilfully uses the RR
visual language of Pop Art and tells stories In the best "cologne-rheinish sense" Malte
and tales from everyday life in a critical, poetic Robert Reschkowski - German Artist,
Performer, Life Coach
KUNST
DU
SAU
acrylic, mixed media, 80cm x 100cm
„Pablo who?“
acrylic,
mixed media,
100cm x 75cm
„Kunst muss gar nix“
acrylic, mixed media,
100cm x 80cmAJANABEE
- A FEW
THINGS
I KNOW
acrylic, mixed media, 60cm x 80cmSINCE HIS REINVENTION…
by Dr. Axel Wendelberger
…as a painter, Malte Sonnenfeld His extraordinary pictorial ideas
always came up with such funny fascinated me immediately when I came
into contact with Sonnenfeld's work. In
ideas…
one painting, Japanese director and
One could philosophize wonderfully actor Takeshi "Beat" Kitano holds a
about the paintings of Malte Sonnenfeld. revolver to his temple with a cynical
The studied philologist gives the laugh in the famous final scene of his
knowledgeable viewer indeed plenty of gritty yakuza flick "Sonatine," pulls the
material to analyze, explain and talk trigger, and : N o brain sputters after the
shop. I would rather talk about my shot, but flowers bloom from his head,
personal encounter with the artist and borrowed from one of Kitano's flower
his work, because I notice that my paintings, who began painting himself
opinion of the human being is after a moped accident. Through his
increasingly creeping into my judgment laconic, comic-like painting style,
of contemporary art. I no longer seek the Sonnenfeld even manages to do justice
much vaunted "objective view." to the monumentality of the cinematic
moment - enriched with fine humor, of
course.
Michael Koslar, the man behind the
picturesque pseudonym, is no stranger.
He has long since made a name for "Contradictio in adiecto" is what this
himself as an author, TV announcer and mental technique is called, the
"presenter with cult potential". The fact contradiction in the enclosure. In many
that he is "ne Kölsche Jung“ (id est: a of his works, Malte Sonnenfeld surprises
guy from Cologne) may be given little the viewer with unexpected
s i g n i fi c a n c e o u t s i d e o u r r e g i o n . combinations of very different pictorial
However, it explains the lightness and elements that stimulate reflection and
irony that make Malte Sonnenfeld's decipherment. What began as montages
pictures so distinctive. In variation of one in acrylic became a pictorial atlas of
of his so typically enigmatic work titles visual memories of an entire generation.
„ways to make you talk I“
one could say: Since his reinvention as a Comic book heroes, pictures of historical
acrylic, mixed media, painter Malte Sonnenfeld always came personalities, film stills, images of old
up with such funny ideas...
60cm x 80cmworks of art, fragments of newspaper Malte Sonnenfeld has expanded his I see far more than just two identities
photos, stickers, collectible pictures are artistic spectrum. The "Icons" and "Stills" and observe with admiration how he
the material from which the artist draws, series (works inspired by 17th-century reconciles the loving family man, (with
which he assembles into enigmatic Dutch still lifes) were followed by "Neo his wife from finland, which is also an
pictorial compositions, which he likes to Pop meets policy," "Street art for your artist) the TV announcer, showmaster,
give no less enigmatic titles. home," "Pellworm," "International author, entertainer and painter - a
Proverbs" and "Famous first words." professional, in fact. Bravo, Malte!
Increasingly, he also thinks about purely Bravo, Michael!
Sometimes in the morning I hear a music painterly tasks. His art becomes more
title on the radio that reminds me of differentiated. He has long since left the
situations from times past and that does subject areas of his own generation. About Dr. Axel Wendelberger: After
not leave me throughout the day. Then I Nothing more stands in the way of studying art history and aesthetics, Axel
often think to myself, "This is part of the international recognition. Wendelberger worked for eight years as
soundtrack of your life." I feel the same a curator at various museums before
way about Malte Sonnenfeld's paintings. becoming a freelance editor and graphic
They evoke memories, memories of The aforementioned Takeshi Kitano designer and art historian in the
those born in the 1960s. That's what began his career as a comedian and had publishing industry in 1992.
makes them so valuable. The American achieved cult status far beyond Japan's
writer Kurt Vonnegut, whose novel borders in the 1980s with his madcap
Breakfast of Champions was the game show "Takeshi's Castle". When he
inspiration for the title of a Malte suddenly came to the public eye with
Sonnenfeld painting, commented on this serious feature films as a director and
phenomenon in a 1968 conversation: actor, audiences were disconcerted. A
whiff of such irritation may also have
been exuded by Michael Koslar - a man
"It's certainly not bad just to be a terrific of words known from television and the
writer for your own generation... To stage - when he presented the painter
achieve that is something!" He cited Malte Sonnenfeld and his paintings,
Ernest Hemingway as an example of which had already matured from the
such an author, "because he inspired his start.
contemporaries and he did it well!"
Vonnegut's interlocutor pointed out that
he, Vonnegut, is read by all ages, "Why a pseudonym?" he wrote in the
„Dead can dance“
however: "It may have to do with the introductory text of his first exhibition
writing itself, Kurt. It may have to do with catalog. "Pseudonym is actually the acrylic, mixed media, 50cm x 100cm
the subjects..." wrong term. More like a second identity."LA
PESTE
acrylic, mixed media, 120cm x 80cm„Der Griff des Wassermannes
oder Something inside takes
me down again“
acrylic, mixed media,
60cm x 80cm
„Tu Perdi“
acrylic, mixed media,
100cm x 120cmAIRFIX
PEACE
ACTIVISTS
acrylic, mixed media, 100cm x 140cmWHAT DOES POP ART MEAN HERE?
by Andreas Cordes
When people talk or write about the works confrontation with the works of Sigmar
of Malte Sonnenfeld, the term Pop Art Polke. Thus, as with Polke, his multi-
comes up again and again in order to trace layered works encompass a broad
his stylistic roots and his models in terms of spectrum in the use of different painting
content. He is also often compared with the techniques and painterly means of
artist Sigmar Polke with the remark that expression: in the ambivalent play of
both draw on the formal characteristics of transparency and opacity, in the setting of
this art movement. contours between the development of form
Yet Sigmar Polke saw himself more as a and dissolution, or in the contrasting
critical German answer to American Pop Art interplay of spherical pictorial background
and coined the term "Capitalist Realism" as and painterly brushwork, his pictorial worlds
early as 1963, together with Konrad Lueg appear like fragments put together at
and Gerhard Richter. An allusion to the random, which repeatedly condense into
official GDR designation "Socialist Realism" multi-layered ensembles.
as the predominant art movement there. This impression is reinforced by the
What connected these artists to Pop Art technical artifice of collage, with which the
was less a bond over formal features than a spectrum in Malte Sonnenfeld's mode of
critical view of mass consumption and expression extends far beyond classical
unquestioning optimism about progress. painting. Thus, the pictorial grounds in his
What does all this have to do with Malte works are often covered with wallpaper,
Sonnenfeld's art? product packaging, or excerpts from poems
If we look closely, quite a lot: for just as little and quotations on paper. A technique that
as Sigmar Polke's works, his art cannot be makes us think not only of Sigmar Polke,
reduced exclusively to stylistic aspects or but also of Nouveau Réalisme, which
variations on the meaning of Pop Art in emerged as a European parallel
terms of content. The reference to the phenomenon to Pop Art in the early 1960s.
artist's preference for comics also falls In particular, the painterly treatment of the
short of a characteristic classification. image carrier, consisting of the most subtle
layers of color and vehement brushstrokes, „Pharao der Postmoderne“
Rather, Malte Sonnenfeld seems to have
is sometimes reminiscent of the pictorial acrylic, mixed media,
worked out his painting style in the artistic
90cm x 70cmquality of the poster tear-off pictures of the everyone can draw their own insights from
French artist Jacques Villeglé, a co-founder this historical situation and bring their ideas
of New Realism. together with the facts."
The quintessence From all these formal
derivations in the pictorial design, Malte Andreas Cordes studied art history and
Sonnenfeld has developed his very own, philosophy in Osnabrück. He is a founding
very personal as well as complex and member of the Kunstverein Nordhorn e.V.
heterogeneous style. With his seemingly and works as an art historian.
infinite cosmos of signs, his pictorial spaces
appear to us more like search images or
pictorial puzzles that allow the viewer to
open up ever new spaces of memory.
Thus, Malte Sonnenfeld's works are neither
to be understood as a pure examination of
the consumerism of the masses, as in Pop
Art, nor can they be interpreted as mere
criticism of mass culture, despite the use of
strongly ironic elements, as in Sigmar
Polke's work. Nor do his works seek to
close a gap between art and life, as the
representatives of Nouveau Réalisme or
Neodada demanded in their elitist-seeming
"revolution of the everyday."
Rather, the artist brings icons from culture
and politics as well as motifs, symbols, and
signals from our world of media
consumption and commodities into
multifaceted contexts that tell his view of
the world, but without moralizing or
lecturing. With his typical and unmistakable
wink, Malte Sonnenfeld keeps the viewer
guessing, participating, and challenges us
to perceive and recognize the images of the
everyday cultural and media world as the
collective memory of a real existing parallel „Hommage to Jacques Villegle“
world. Or, to conclude in the words of Pierre
Restany, who announced the end of acrylic, mixed media, 50cm x 70cm
Nouveau Réalisme in 1963: "In the future,
„MAARE“ acrylic, mixed media, 100cm x 100cm„Genius seldom pays“
acrylic, mixed media,
60cm x 80cm
„feelin´strange“
acrylic, mixed media,
40cm x 60cmSOME
LIKE
TO
WATCH
acrylic, mixed media, wooden door, 50cm x 46cm„beuys - phatt“
acrylic, mixed media,
wooden slice,
ca. 33cm x 22,5cm
„des hasen tod“
acrylic, mixed media,
wooden canvas,
48cm x 40cmKUNST
IST
MEINE
MASKE
acrylic, mixed media, 90cm x 60cm„Tante Eusebia mit Hermelin“
acrylic, mixed media,
60cm x 90cm
„le douanier“
acrylic, mixed media,
wooden canvas,
40cm x 50cmPRESS
MALTE SONNENFELD…
"...by now he is known all over Germany for
his colorful, comic-like and cryptic acrylic "The high-flyer" (Aachener Zeitung) has
paintings..." (Kölnische Rundschau) "made his mark on more than 50 exhibitions
and various art fairs." (Focus online) and
"The high-flyer" (Aachener Zeitung) has produces "colorful pop art" (WAZ) - "but his
"made his mark on more than 50 exhibitions philosophical and philological insights have
and various art fairs." (Focus online) and also flowed into his pop imagery" (Weser-
produces "colorful pop art" (WAZ) - "but his Kurier Bremen).
philosophical and philological insights have
also flowed into his pop imagery" (Weser- "Sonnenfeld is one of the best known German
Kurier Bremen). neo-pop artists and is already counted among
the important German artists." (Rhein-Zeitung)
"Sonnenfeld's work has established him as a
new force in the German art world.“ (RP) "...art connoisseurs consider (him...the ed.) a
trailblazer with his Neo Pop Art." (Rheinischer
"Sonnenfeld is one of the best known German Spiegel)
neo-pop artists and is already counted among
the important German artists." (Rhein-Zeitung) "The Schwabach altar is..one of the largest
Furthermore, "...art connoisseurs consider late Gothic winged altars in Germany. Now a
(him...the ed.) a trailblazer with his Neo Pop new, no less impressive colorful, albeit
Art." (Rheinischer Spiegel) secular, exclamation point of art has been
added to this imposing church: The painter
"...by now he is known all over Germany for and artist Malte Sonnenfeld…“ (Blick aktuell)
his colorful, comic-like and cryptic acrylic
paintings..." (Kölnische Rundschau) "Art with humor, precision and history (...) New
works in the country gallery Dellarte in
In Germany, Malte Sonnenfeld has firmly Südarle (...) The drawing card of this fifth
established himself in the art scene. Now it's summer exhibition represents the Cologne
Belgium's turn. Eupen makes the start. (BRF) Malte Sonnenfeld.“ (Ostfriesischer Kurier)
"die anthropogene kybernetische mutation der arten“
acrylic, mixed media, 100x100cmPAULI
UND DER
SCHULDEN-
BERG
acryl, mixed-media, 120cm x 100cm„death on skates“, acrylic, mixed media, 70cm x 70cm
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