(...) The painter Dietmar Brixy (*1961) is one of the most successful artists in the metro region. After completing his studies at the State Academy of Visual Arts in Karlsruhe, he returned to his home town of Mannheim in 1991, where he has developed a very sensual style located between abstract and figurative art: A color spills freely across the painting surface, not only beautiful in itself but also in search of motifs usually reminiscent of plants and fruits. "Eden" is the evocative title of this exhibition, a small but representative selection of Brixy's works, all of which ultimately refer directly or indirectly to the Bible story of the fall from Paradise.
But first a few words about the artist's painting technique, which involves a lengthy process for each work: He starts with an initial coat of paint, an overall mixture of many colors. Once this coat has dried, the artist adds another, this time thickly layering the pigment with a palette knife or his bare hands, developing a gestural-abstract painting style whose movement and intensive contrasts alone make it a visual feast. But that is not all: Brixy scrapes off part of this impasto layer to give it structure that can often be interpreted as representational motifs. The paint suddenly grows into the branches of a tree, its bark, leaves or fruit. Sometimes Brixy presses whole leaves into the paint, inscribing them realistically into the painting, as in a frottage. (...)
Dr. Dietmar Schuth