On the occasion of his exhibition "Fiction / Non-Fiction", the Düsseldorf artist Stephan Kaluza gave an interview to Alethea Magazine. For the exhibition, the artist has put together two contrasting series: The Continuation of "Transit II" with new photorealistic paintings he has created over the last twelve months, and "Somnia", a series shown to the public for the first time. In "Somnia" the artist shows scenes from feature films paused to film stills.

From the simple and technical title "Transit II" one would not expect to stand in front of breathtakingly perfect paintings of nature, so beautifully painted that hardly any other artist would be able to paint them.

The series "Transit II" is meant to depict a transit situation of threatened nature. It is still portrayed as an idyll in the paintings. But the artist succeeds in presenting his paintings as a warning without any illustrative elements at all. Or is it the viewer who thinks of the threat to perfect nature through the beauty of the painting?

Natural philosophy is central to the artist's work. Thus he has launched his latest book - Stephan Kaluza - "Die Dritte Natur" - a volume of essays. This time, the artist is concerned with the art of nature as totality and idyll.

April 15, 2022

Interview Directory 

ART

Name: Stephan Kaluza

Occupation: Artist, author, filmmaker

Specialised: Breathtakingly perfect paintings of nature.

Spectacular: A waterfall was created by the artist which had illuminated Düsseldorf's Designhotel The Wellem/Hyatt on the night of 8 and 9 April 2022. Two years earlier, he had installed a 100-metre-long and 2.30-metre-high Rhine photo collage there.

"The cultural needs the natural to differentiate itself, to be able to be artificial at all; the natural, on the other hand, does not need the artificial to be able to be natural."

What fascinates you so much about nature that you portray it in your works and books?

I come from Bad Iburg in the Teutoburg Forest, a small town with 10,000 souls, more trees than people. Nature has been my theme for many years, which also has something to do with my origins, because I live at times in a house in the middle of the forest. But nature is also a universal (?) theme for artists - art comes from nature and not from culture. As a painter who works photorealistically, you imitate nature or do the same thing that nature does.

Are your paintings based on certain landscapes that exist in reality? What is the message of your series?

My nature paintings are created while painting, inspired by a real landscape. One painting was created by taking more than 20 different photos of the Teutoburg Forest. It depends on what these templates do to me. My "Transit II" series refers to a transit situation, a threat, because the idyllic does not last. My paintings are an inventory of the idyll - but even without additional illustrative elements they can function as a warning.

The other series I am showing here, "Somnia", deals with artificial intelligence from feature films, games and the internet. Here, too, nature no longer appears natural at the time I paint it. Nature then becomes an artificial model.

In which landscapes were the paintings of the series "Transit II" created?

It doesn't matter to me where they were created, they were done in the Teutoburg Forest, in Thailand, on the Seychelles, in Africa and also on Martinique. What is essential is nature itself.

You also work as a book author and screenwriter.

I have written five novels, two non-fiction books and 20 plays so far. Much of it revolves around the theme of nature. My current book - "Die Dritte Natur" ("Third Nature") is a collection of essays that deals with artificial nature as totality and idyll - the comparison of nature and culture.

"I put forward the thesis that culture only became possible through the destruction of nature. Furthermore, I think that artistic work does not originate from culture, but from nature. It only becomes culture when the first results can be seen. The artistic process is a natural process and one can draw conclusions about nature itself. That is why my series of paintings "Somnia" contrasts with the series "Transit II", in order to juxtapose artificiality with nature here too."

"In essence, it is about naturalness versus artificiality and what role an artist plays in it."

A waterfall by artist Stephan Kaluza that illuminated Düsseldorf's Designhotel The Wellem/Hyatt on the night of 8 and 9 April 2022. Two years earlier, he had installed a 100-metre-long and 2.30-metre-high Rhine photo collage there.

©Stephan Kaluza

Stephan Kaluza and his galerist Dirk Geuer ©Geuer

©Geuer, ©Stephan Kaluza