Steffi Kaschlik

Gef­fray Powel

Steffi Kaschlik’s over­ture is immersed in the cul­ture of paint­ing and its poten­tial for alchem­i­cal trans­for­ma­tion. A new breed of paint­ing Kaschlik’s work invites view­ers to a world full of vibrant col­ors and mys­te­ri­ous vis­ages. She grace­fully incor­po­rates pic­turesque ele­ments into the paint­ings she creates—landscapes and dream­scapes that stand for a real­ity observed through her own vision. The result is a rep­re­sen­ta­tion that is dreamy, capri­cious, and out of this world. Pro­duc­ing endear­ing and mes­mer­iz­ing works, that emerge out of a place where fan­tasy and real­ity inter­sect Kaschlik’s inspi­ra­tion, comes from her jour­neys, each like a story, each a tes­ti­mony of her obser­va­tion and of the feel­ings evoked by the scenery or char­ac­ters she comes across.

For these works, she uti­lizes her expe­ri­ence of the land­scape directly as a com­po­nent of the pic­ture mak­ing process. In order to achieve the kind of den­sity that she wants, Kasch­lik builds the sur­face in a tra­di­tional way by super­im­pos­ing lay­ers of oil paint and exploit­ing the trans­parency and opac­ity of the medium. The depth of the land­scape, and the envi­ron­ment ele­ments are trapped within these lay­ers. Kaschlik’s work is rem­i­nis­cent of bits and pieces of mem­o­ries that are hazy yet clear, bizarre yet famil­iar. The imagery is per­sonal and objec­tive at the same time, ren­der­ing view­ers ready to relate to what they see.

The lumi­nos­ity of her sub­jects is over­whelm­ing, the rich­ness of her palettes astound­ing, owing to her abil­ity to segue between mediums—from paint­ing and prints to mixed media wall sculp­tures. For exam­ple Air Suite Nr. 3 with an end­less meadow flour­ish­ing green and boom­ing yel­low. In other works, lay­ers of fuch­sia, pur­ple, blue, red, and gold, deep and light, trans­port view­ers to a dimen­sion that seems far yet near, where they are clos­est to nature, with their bare eyes and hearts. Indeed, color is a sig­na­ture of Kaschlik’s work. So is each imag­i­nary rep­re­sen­ta­tion of her dream­scapes, where she mon­tages mem­o­ries and feel­ings, inter­lac­ing whim with actuality.

http://www.steffi-kaschlik.de/