Works

Five Seasons

“Five Seasons,” the current series of works from the painter BieneFeld, follows on seamlessly from the two previous series, “Gehen” und “Werden.” Whether they have been completed is uncertain, as all transitions are fluid. There are no abrupt breaks. A continual progression and forward motion is unmistakable.
This does not just relate to the artistic expression, the means also change. While a number of years ago the focus was still on oil on canvas, in recent years the works on paper have gained increasing importance in her œuvre. In the series of works the two mediums stand side by side, on an equal footing, supplementing and completing as opposed to excluding one another.
Painterly techniques can be seen in the paper works, and naturally the other way around. One has always felt the strong influence of the surroundings, nature, the landscape in the artist’s work.
And the current title “Five Seasons” is an unmistakable gesture in this direction, while simultaneously referring to what interests and inspires her artistically. The Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, whose work Thomas Piper pays tribute to in his film “Five Seasons”, describes it perhaps best of all. The film’s core statement is that the annual cycle, nature, cannot be grasped in terms of four seasons. For Piet Oudolf it has at least five—fall, winter, spring, summer, fall. However, ultimately, this is irrelevant. Everything determines and augments everything else.

BieneFeld, who has cultivated a garden behind the gallery in Born over the last 5 years, recently explained: “Through the garden I have learned to listen to the plants. They tell me what they want, whether they are feeling well, whether they like the location or not. In the broadest sense they talk to me, like my pictures. It always appears to me as if it is about a radiance, a great inner perfection.” In spring I visited the two Dutch painters Han Klinkhamer and Marc Mulders in their studios.
In Han’s work the country environs, in an old school house directly next to the river Maas, are unmistakable. Every year Marc Mulders, who works in a large thatched barn, has the land surrounding his studio ploughed up by neighbouring farmers and sown with various mixtures of flowers.
When I see new works from him I am reminded of the visit. It is the same with the current series from BieneFeld. One can sense the walk through the garden, the dialogue with the plants, the opening of the studio and the continuation of the conversation within—“Five Seasons.”
 
Matthias Fuhrmann, August 2020
translation: Colin Shepherd

Biene Feld ⇒