Waldemar Zimbelmann surprises in his works with an unusual handling of material and technique, not least at the DELTABEBEN Regionale 2018 in the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum. Woodcut, oil and reverse glass painting form the material context from which he develops his mysterious ensemble of figures. Sometimes the grain of the wood provides the contours of a drawing, sometimes portraits, landscapes or interior-like sceneries emerge from the organic structure. In turn, Zimbelmann confronts the filigree line drawing with the decorative colourfulness of the two-dimensional reverse glass painting, the cut wood image with the artificial smoothness and brilliance of the glass. The artist subtly explores the interplay of supposed opposites in surrealistic-looking pictorial constructions and transfers them into a multi-layered pictorial language that brings forth its subject matter in an overlap of figuration and abstraction. In the staging of his works, which oscillate between proximity and distance, display and demarcation, Zimbelmann creates pictorial spaces for portraits of thoughts that reveal ambivalent interpersonal relationships.

This catalogue is published to accompany the exhibition at the Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen.

Text in English and German