Dagmar Rauwald

Intention vs Convention
Paintings 2020-2022

The incredible lightness of being. To
the pictures by Dagmar Rauwald
Christian Kaufmann (excerpts)
The (...) works are painted on transparent foil. With transparent plastic,
Dagmar Rauwald has discovereda material that is ubiquitous today
as packaging material and yet ismostly selected by perception. (...)
she paints on transparent film, theweightlessness of which stands in apeculiar contrast to the appearanceof the partly opaquely painted gestural color bodies. By doing without
the pictorial body, the artist addsa third dimension to her painting:written and pictorial symbols float infront of the wall and cast their shadows on it. The resulting spatial impression is further enhanced by theuse of up to five slides staggered
one behind the other for one image.
The viewer is visually immersed
in an increasingly diffuse world ofimages, which at the same time
seems to elude him.
Dagmar Rauwald‘s paintings thrive
on a maximum of emotional expressiveness. Paint is applied to the foil
in rapid swipes and accumulates

there in a bodily manner. Although
the painting is always oriented
towards the center of the picture,
which usually consists of one ormore bodies, the compositions demonstrate openness towards theedges of the picture. Openness,transparency, glaze, heaviness,
opacity or physicality are some of
the contrasts inherent in the picture, which are juxtaposed in an
exciting way in Dagmar Rauwald‘spaintings. A gestural painting that isreminiscent of the Action Painting
or Informel of the 1950s and how
it seems to be directed inwards inorder to explore and visualize one‘sown psyche, one‘s own emotional
state. But unlike the painters of theInformel, who eliminated external
reality from their pictures by exploring their own emotional world,
Dagmar Rauwald remains connected to the physical, representational
world, the brushstrokes form figures
and, again and again, faces. The
motifs, which often depict people
or figures, are suspended betweenappearance and disappearance, inthe balance between not-yet andno-longer.

Inner Scape

Acrylic on Polyester on Canavs, 130 x 300 cm, 12/21

Inner Shapes, Acrylic on Polyester on wood, 90 x 140 cm, 11/21

Her Dark is light
Daniel Spanke, May 2004
(Excerpt)
In modernity is particularly about working on the edge: on the edge of the already. What is already known, what is already clear, what is already familiar.
behind thatKnown, already clear, already familiar, Dagmar Rauwald designs hers
Pictures. She doesn’t seem to be afraid of that and it doesn’t bother her,because her Dark is light. There, in the wilderness of thought, our words
only follow tedious. Because that one, the secret word isn’t on the tip of thetongue like they are News in the latest newspaper - it’s always far ahead.

Inner Scape

Acrylic on Polyester on Wood, 200 x 200 cm, 10/21

Inner Scape

Acrylic on Polyester on Wood, 200 x 200 cm, 10/21

Inner Scape | Collage

Acrylic on Polyester and on Canvas, 340 x 500 cm, 12/21

Inner Shapes,
Acrylic on Polyester on Wood, each 100 x 90 cm, 08/21

Inner Shape, Acrylic on Polyester on Wood, 180 x 180 cm, 08/21

Inner Shapes,

Acrylic on Polyester on Wood, each 70 x 60 cm, 06/20

Inner Shapes,

Acrylic on Canvas (on Polyester)), MOM art space, 04/20

May 2020

Inner Shapes,

Acrylic on Canvas (on Polyester)), MOM art space, 04/20

In her work “Dear All”, the artist
Dagmar Rauwald (* 1965) reflects
the state of emergency in the painting process and at the same timeties it back to historical conditions
and its mediation. The collective experience of the crisis overlaps withthe artist’s personal experience.
In her paintings and sketches
Rauwald raises questions that havebeen exacerbated by the Corona
crisis: What does the closure ofnational borders mean? To what extent do contact and contagion risks
have to do with social inequality?
What effects do social distancing
and wearing masks have on ourliving together? What is self-care?
The multidimensionality and uncertainty of the outcome of the pandemic are reflected in the work, itscolor coding and materials. Since
the 1990s Rauwald has also beenworking with foil as a painting surface. Their transparency allows forworking in layers and creates a playof visualization and opacity. In recent months, films have been used
as a protective measure against
Covid-19 in many public buildings.
They create forms of distancing
themselves, but also show solidarity
and consideration.
The arrangement of canvases,sketches and foil paintings, which
partially overlap, opens up a spaceof reflection on how to interpret andrelate to the manifold contradictionsof the current situation.
Annette Hans, Hamburg 2020

Togetherness,
Acrylic on Polyester, each 70 x 50 cm, 04/22

Togetherness,
Acrylic on Polyester, 200 x 200 cm, 04/22

Togetherness,
Acrylic on Polyester on Wood, 200 x 200 cm, 03/22

Togetherness,
Acrylic on Polyester on Wood, 200 x 200 cm, 03/22

Dagmar Rauwald lives as a freelance artist in Hamburg. As a conceptual painter, she explores thespaces between painterly empathy
and analytical structures in thecontext of changing codes, not least
because of this she opens up themedium for current social issues.
From 1988 to 1994 Dagmar Rauwald studied fine arts at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg withProf. Sigmar Polke with a focus on
painting. She has received nationaland international awards and has
participated in numerous solo andgroup exhibitions including: 2020
‘Dear All’, Kunstverein Harburger
Bahnhof; 2019 ‘Measuring Beauty |WabiSabi meets West’, C.A.P. Conference of Art Projects, Kobe, Japan; 2018 ‘Ongoingness’, Hamburg
Museum for Arts and Crafts, Hamburg; 2017 ‘Donation Act’, Mom art
space, Hamburg; ‘Impermanent
Codes’, Kunsthaus Hamburg; 2012
‘Models of a Better World’, Galerievon Loeper, Hamburg; 2005 ‘L’Ambivalence du Blanc’, Uhde Gallery,Toulouse.