Susanne A. Schalz. “The Ruhr area can do more than gray.” And can do even “abstract”.

Susanne A. Schalz. “The Ruhr area can do more than gray.”

The Ruhr area is very close to Susanne A. Schalz’ heart, or rather “in her heart”, so perhaps one should formulate it more precisely. The artist calls her studio “pot in colour” in the Magazin (=„Store room/ware house“) Gladbeck, a historic building of the colliery and harbour railway, which she has carefully transformed into a venue for art, exhibitions and events.

Susanne A. Schalz’ portfolio covers a whole spectrum: Colourful paintings, figurative or abstract, but also delicate drawings in black and white. Three-dimensional objects are included as well. Sculpture and installation.

The Ruhr area runs like a red thread through her work. Susanne Schalz probably painted all of the collieries in the „Pott“ (=German colloquial for the Ruhr area), but not at all in a cliché-like grey and dull mood, but – on the contrary – with powerful colours and dynamic brushstrokes. With the colourful multimedia installation “Bergfrei” at the end of last year, the artist has set her own personal monument to the country’s stop of coal mining in her studio. A very special project. But more about that elsewhere.

This little text is now about Susanne A. Schalz’ abstract paintings, with which she takes her theme “Ruhrgebiet” into account in a very special way.

Susanne A. Schalz spans a very special arc of tension between the supposed opposites „abstract” and „figurative”. And charcoal, which can be found in the form of small particles in all her works, is by no means the “smallest common denominator”.

“coal down”. Ruhr area matter meets colour

“coal down. Ruhr matter meets colour”. This is how Susanne A. Schalz herself described it for a whole series of non-figurative works. If the portrayed collieries or even the exuberant multimedia material collage of the installation “Bergfrei” are still very “tangible” and decisively outlined, Susanne A. Schalz takes a different path with her abstractions. And these are just as colorful.

In a series of abstractions, the charcoal actually is to be discovered in the base paint layer, at the very bottom. Charcoal and overburden particles are worked into the lower layers of paint of the “coal down” pictures, and they are sometimes found as a blunt trace on the surface. “Coal down” is perhaps also a kind of acoustic play on words. “Cool down”, maybe. “Relax”. The view of Susanne A. Schalz’ abstract works is always relaxing. Especially since there is a lot to discover.

Fine coal dust under and in-between layers of paint glazed with a soft touch, brightly shining pigment islands, almost lumpy colour spots next to fine streaks. Traces of the working process have inscribed themselves into the canvas, which manifest themselves in blurring and fraying movements. In some places, fine patterns shimmer through, for example from perforated plates or flower ornaments. Fragmentary, as a hint, they blend into the surrounding colourfulness and contrast with their “orderliness” the surrounding colour and form strudel.

“coal down”. The Ruhr area can do abstract

In fact, the superimposition of all these layers creates a depth of space that draws the viewer into the picture. The painting provides space for a variety of associations. But at the same time it eludes a truly concrete spatial location. The exploration of this space reminds one a little of the randomness of changing cloud images, which one can ponder. Perhaps also a kind of self-reflexive analysis of the means with which Susanne A. Schalz creates her non-objective art: colours, forms (here rather the form-less), light and not least coal and dust from her territory.

Here, there is no concrete location and figurative, no winding tower, no colliery building, no Villa Hügel to be portrayed. And certainly no material installation like “Bergfrei”. “Coal down” is rather floating, in a pure color space. At one point or another it becomes surprisingly concrete, though. Susanne A. Schalz’ logo, a small abstract winding tower with funny eyes, floats through the depths of the layers of paint. Maybe as a friendly twinkle or tiny wink.

Susanne A. Schalz exhibits her abstractions, together with her figurative views, landscapes and travel impressions until May / June 2019 at our Hotel Villa Meererbusch.