Paintings with Light
Karl Martin Holzhäuser
Light on photographic paper, various dimensions
Germany 1980s–ongoing
Image above: Karl Martin Holzhäuser, 91.2.1991, 1991, colored light on PE color paper, 100 x 100 cm, Stadthalle Bielefeld collection.
"Holzhäuser's technical procedure, essentially the same in all of his recent and present work, is both simple and elaborate: Operating in total darkness, he moves a "light-brush" (a lamp inside a narrow oblong box with variable openings in the bottom) along horizontal and vertical rails over sensitized paper, thus exposing it directly, without an interfering lens. Small parallel slides in the bottom of this "brush" enable the artist to control the quantity of light emerging from his device: As long as all the slides are shut, no lamplight is being emitted; when several slides are opened simultaneously, separate parts of the sensitized paper become exposed at one go, whereby the individual slots determine the width of the resulting stripes or bars. With regard to the slides and the intensity of light and colors, the "painter" starts out from a plan, but another important aspect, the speed of the moving "light-brush", is usually governed by intuition during the actual exercise. At any rate, Holzhäuser does not get to see the outcome before the development is completed (and even later if color is involved and the pictures have to be processed in a laboratory). Now and then the result turns out to be somewhat other than expected, but he accepts exactly that as part of the charm of his artistic method." (Egging: 2004)
Karl Martin Holzhäuser, born 1944 in Gardelegen, Germany, lives and works in Bielefeld, Germany.
More images
1. Karl Martin Holzhäuser, 88.8.2001, 2001, light on black and white Baryta paper, 120 x 120 cm, property of the artist.
2. Karl Martin Holzhäuser, 180.9.2003, 2003, light on black and white Baryta paper, 120 x 120 cm, collection: Peter C. Ruppert: Concrete Art in Germany after 1945.
3. Karl Martin Holzhäuser, Blau/Grün/Rot 90.6.3, 1990, colored light on PE color paper, 100 x 100 cm, Stadthalle Bielefeld collection.
4. Karl Martin Holzhäuser with the "light-brush".
5. "Light-brushes".
Reference
Björn Egging, Subjective Rationality on Karl Martin Holzhäuser's Pictorial Worlds, http://www.kmholzhaeuser.com/texts.html.