(...) The bearers of the light are Dietmar Brixy’s paintings, which cannot be separated from the medium of paint. Brixy’s journey to the light, via colour, is defined by a masterful usage of thickly-applied impasto oil paint. The paint is delicately spread in shimmering modulations of colour, layered on in stripes with a palette knife, fiercely applied in gestural forms and brushstrokes. It evokes associations with natural phenomena, their warm colours at play with infinities, organic effects contrasting with crystalline painted surfaces. Flat shimmers of light appear, like bright hopes leading out of a dense and mystical jungle of animated trees; a light that conceives a magical desire for an “over there”, while having not the slightest knowledge of that longed-for place.
The form of presentation has a noticeable influence on the workings of these lush and luminous suggestions of colour. The exhibition space of the Coburg Kunstverein is windowless and uniformly lit, a neutral container for artworks. The walls have no openings to disturb the impact of the pictures. No glimpse of real spaces, no sight of the profane exterior world can disrupt the concentrated dialogue with the works. Only through the pictures themselves can a gateway to the outside be found. Diaphanous daylight filtered through skylights adds to the effects of colour and light. (...)