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Michael van Ofen

Der Abschied der Braut

Malerei zwischen Figuration und Abstraktion

Michael van Ofen (born 1956) is skilled in minimalistic abstraction and sparse painterly gestures. A blue line amidst a monochrome color surface is enough to create a landscape. Three dabs of the brush suffice the master student of Gerhard Richter to depict a human body. He came upon painting after its demise had been heralded numerous times—although it never occurred. With portraits, still lifes, flowers, interiors, and landscapes, Ofen chooses subjects that are rarely found in contemporary painting, developing his position in dealing with 19th-century painting.

For the artist, painting entails a cautious approach to the process of painting as such: a unique interplay between brush stroke, sophisticated color application, and the special treatment of light, which keeps his paintings in a fascinating balance between figuration and abstraction. When viewing them from a certain distance, his portraits and landscapes appear strangely familiar; one is suddenly confronted with a person one knows or a ubiquitous motif from the collective memory.