RÖS-NICKEL petra

Dynamics, structure, rhythm: Petra Rös-Nickel's pictorial worlds resemble scores of light, colour and form, and their serial orchestration allows something symphonic to shine through. Luminous colour panels reminiscent of barcodes begin to dance before the viewer's mind's eye, rods form into a ballet of lines, colours and textures, effectively breaking up the strictness of the basic geometric formulas in her works and evoking a high degree of sensuality; in fact, there is something textile and haptic about the works - which is not least due to the fact that Petra Rös-Nickel has a background in fashion design. In contrast, the line as an organising element in her oeuvre can be interpreted as a reference to her architectural studies.
The reference to geometric principles and purely sculptural building blocks of form and colour identify Petra Rös-Nickel as a representative of Concrete Art; following no obvious external influence, no model from nature or the art canon, the artist's spiritual, inner self materialises here, drawing her ideas from herself. And she declares the exhaustion of the surface, the exploration of all conceivable possibilities to be her personal drive.

Using ground and coloured stone powder, the Hamburg native first creates a monochrome base surface, which she then adds - sometimes concretely, sometimes freely - layer by layer with painted elements of oil paint.
Scratches and fissures are often created in these first steps, emphasising the sculptural effect. Only in the final step does she add lines to create a suggested order and generate the principle of seriality. Fine, previously coloured marble pigments are responsible for the powdery appearance, which are absorbed in different ways to create a lively texture. Finally, oil elements are scraped free to create an interplay of glossy and matt areas, layering and erosion as well as penetrations of the surface, which ultimately creates depth and three-dimensionality.

The results are sensual, approachable tableaux that have a strong design reference in their proverbial pattern validity and are reminiscent of Mondrian and Rothko in their linearity and colour codes, as well as the Bauhaus artist Anni Albers in their textile orientation. And even if Petra Rös-Nickel follows exclusively her own impetus, her inner compass of ideas, the Bauhaus philosophy of a universal art, which is fed interdisciplinary from fine art, architecture and design, is reflected in her oeuvre.