Carsten Westphal

Carsten Westphal became known as a desert painter because he loves the silence and untouched nature of the boundless expanses. So he travels with camels through sandy deserts to find the perfect place to paint, climbs volcanoes, climbs mountains or walks through icy landscapes. The mystical magic of pristine natural landscapes is the source of inspiration for Westphal’s art. The structures of the deserts, the rough rock formations of the mountains, the jagged ice of the glaciers and the silvery-black lava of the volcanoes magically attract the artist. Yet his theme is not the realistic depiction of nature, but the experience of the elemental forces and their elemental forces and translating them into an abstract pictorial language. Westphal immerses himself in nature, exposes himself to heat, cold, sun and wind and thus feels the energy of the elements while painting. He uses materials collected on site, such as desert sand, wind-blown rock dust, mud, salt, ice or lava. In order to make the elemental traces of nature visible in the composition of the picture, it takes several revisions. Only when the picture reaches a certain density does a vivid depth effect emerge. The haptic surface of the painting becomes part of its design, as do its properties: an impasto application of paint reflects the incident light differently than a glazed one; three-dimensional reliefs cast shadows, their their furrows look like dark drawings. Textures, textures, forms and materials of nature are in visual design processes. A spontaneously gestural process reveals what is hidden, discovers the structure behind the form. sensual experience of reflected light. In the rhythm of natural landscapes, compositions of light, matter and structure emerge in dialogue with colour and space. Free-flowing colours, fissured materials draw traces, reflect the elemental force of nature.