Different materials are merged together such as soap water, aquarelle paint combined unusually with oil color and balsam turpentine oil. Sometimes even salt is applied onto specific areas of the paintings. The salt absorbs the water and leaves behind a grainy structure only visible after the salt gets scratched off the paintings when they have fully dried.
Beyond that two materials fundamentally diverse are combined together to explore their reactions to each other and capture these on paper. Aquarelle and oil color repel, change and crush each other. At the moment of contact with the other the oil color shatters into the smallest fragments. They are floating in fine movements generated by the repulsive process over the surface of the water. The fragments form in different proportions various grainy structures and patterns on paper. Small changes still happen until the paintings have fully dried.
This is the latest video depicting my working process behind the work FRAGMENTED at the studio at Basislager Zürich. With the help of film producer Girts Apskalns I created this videoportrait for the recent solo exhibition at Sihlhalle. As in most of my previous work the two medias - the serie of paintings and corresponding video - refer to each other. Instead of having the final result of paintings the process becomes an important part of the exhibited work.
©Janka Stemmle
Video (04:38min) produced with Girts Apskalns
FRAGMENTED OFFLINE Zürich 2017
Sihlhalle Zürich 2018 (solo)
⇾ I am hosting the continuous Atelier Workshop since September 2022 until now June 2023 at Migros Klubschule and a shorter Mixed Media Workshop, next ones will be on the 13th & 20st of July, 31st of July & 7th of August 2023 at Migros Klubschule and in total there were two of these on the 17th & 24th of October and 7th & 21st of March 2022 at Migros Klubschule
