In a dark forest, a flash of white from a deer’s tail. In a golden field, the ultra-violet of a cluster of flowers. The black shadow of a large shape beneath green waves. The red flash of a wing spiraling against blue sky. It might not be too much to say that homo sapiens wouldn’t exist, at least not as we do now, without our ability to see colors. As quintessentially adaptable creatures, our brains developed around the talent for picking up complex patterns and colors, in our environment. It not only kept us alive but helped us thrive. It is a foundational part of who we are. One only needs to sit in a mono-color office building under fluorescent lighting to start to feel what it does to the body and mind to be denied our natural habitat of color.
But there is more to this foundational connection to color. Color is freighted with meaning. It provokes the nervous system, pricks us with emotion, it triggers memory, elicits profound response. Personal, cultural, biological. We are alarmed and delighted and soothed by our colorful world, moment by moment.
For artists Heiner Thiel and Michael Post – color is all. For decades, their work has sought to explore both the tangible and ethereal qualities of color, abstracted from narrative or naturalistic form. Art focused on the perception and experience of color itself. In 2013 in Weisbaden, Germany, the artists conceived of the idea of a curated exhibition on the theme of Embodying Colour which would travel to both major cities and with “outtakes,” including fewer of the original artists, appearing worldwide in galleries. Over the years the exhibition has appeared in Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, and France, with this iteration at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art marking its first U.S. appearance, and including work from fellow German artist, Peter Weber.
Viewers will be familiar with the intense and intriguing effect of Heiner Thiel’s arced wall sculptures.
The concave shapes are cut from aluminum and anodized through a painstaking industrial process which allows Thiel’s pieces to achieve a coating of color that is only 26 microns thick, thinner than a human hair. This intensely compacted color, combined with the concave shape of the work, creates a unique experience where the color will shift and change as the viewer moves around the piece. Sometimes it can even seem as if the color lifts off the piece itself, ghosting above the surface.
Michael Post’s exploration of color is twofold, with the surface color sometimes taking a backseat to the color he applies to the verso. These neon hues, canted with the shapes just off the wall, glow and reflect – casting colored “shadows” and painting on the wall. While previous works shown at Charlotte Jackson Fine Art have primarily had matte black or metallic surfaces, several of Post’s new pieces have added a new element, using lacquers polished to a high gloss to create a mirror-like surface. Here the viewer can find themselves reflected, embedded within the color of the piece itself.
What started out, for Peter Weber, as intricately folded paper invitations to his exhibitions, became the primary focus of his artistic work. Weber’s color-drenched three-dimensional wall-sculptures are intricately constructed from a single piece of felt cloth. Tucked and draped, folded and woven, these works create complex patterns that raise and disappear – with the light highlighting and shadowing the color, pulling the eye from one edge to another. The dense, compacted, blurred texture of the material adds an additional depth to the pieces, which allows the fabric color to shift with the light.
Embodying Colour provides viewers an opportunity to saturate themselves in a sensual experience of color.
- Michaela Kahn, PhD Peter Weber, Crosslinking, II FBLC6, 2020, felt, 28.4 x 14.2 x 2 inches Peter Weber, Double Stripes FORh6, 2021, felt, 18.5 x 18.1 x 2.25 inchesMichael Post, Untitled (WVZ 1/23/755), 2023, acrylic, black car paint (mirroring) on aluminum, 26 x 22 x 3 inches
Michael Post, Untitled (WVZ 3/23/757), 2023, acrylic, car paint (mirroring) on steel, 25 x 16 x 2 inches Heiner Thiel, Untitled (WVZ 766), 2023, anodized aluminum, 29.5 x 29.5 x 6.3 inches Heiner Thiel, Untitled (WVZ 768), 2023, anodized aluminum, 30.7 x 23.6 x 5.1 inches Heiner Thiel, Untitled (WVZ 769), 2023, anodized aluminum, 33.8 x 26.8 x 6.7 inchesMichael Post, Untitled (WVZ 4/23/758), 2023, acrylic, black car paint (mirroring) on aluminum, 26.4 x 21.7 x 3 inches
Peter Weber, Crosslinking FG6, 2017, felt, 21.7 x 21.7 x 2.1 inches Heiner Thiel, Untitled (WVZ 08/22/762), 2022, anodized aluminum, 29.5 x 27.5 x 3.9 inchesMichael Post, Untitled (WVZ 8/23/762), 2023, light blue car paint (mirroring), acrylic on aluminum, 37.8 x 35.4 x 2.25 inches
Peter Weber, M5+2xM6 FBL6, 2021, felt, 22 x 20.4 x 1.8 inches Michael Post, Untitled (WVZ 7/23/761), 2023, blue car paint (mirroring), acrylic on steel, 34.7 x 17.7 x 2 inches Heiner Thiel, Untitled (WVZ 757), 2022, anodized aluminum, 25.2 x 16.5 x 3.7 inchesPeter Weber, 9 Large Squares III (9 große Quadrate III), Edition 2/9, 2023, staineleess steel, powercoat, 38 x 38.5 x 3.5 inches
Heiner Thiel, Untitled (WVZ 764), 2023, anodized aluminum, 26.4 x 26.4 x 5.2 inchesPeter Weber
Crosslinking, II FBLC6, 2020 felt
28.4 x 14.2 x 2 inches
PW039
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Peter Weber
Double Stripes F0Rh6, 2021 felt
18.5 x 18.1 x 2.25 inches
PW038
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$4,100
Michael Post
Untitled (WVZ 1/23/755), 2023
acrylic, black car paint (mirroring) on aluminum
26 x 22 x 3 inches
MP190
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$3,900
Heiner Thiel Untitled (WVZ 766), 2023 anodized aluminum
29.5 x 29.5 x 6.3 inches
HT269
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Heiner Thiel Untitled (WVZ 768), 2023 anodized aluminum
30.7 x 23.6 x 5.1 inches
HT271
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$5,200
Michael Post
Untitled (WVZ 3/23/757), 2023
acrylic, car paint (mirroring) on steel
25 x 16 x 2 inches
MP186
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Price on request
Price on request
Heiner Thiel Untitled (WVZ 769), 2023 anodized aluminum
33.8 x 26.8 x 6.7 inches
HT272
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$5,000
Michael Post
Untitled (WVZ 4/23/758), 2023
acrylic, black car paint (mirroring) on aluminum
26.4 x 21.7 x 3 inches
MP187
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$5,500
Price on request
Peter Weber
Crosslinking FG6, 2017 felt
21.7 x 21.7 x 2.1 inches
PW041
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Heiner Thiel
Untitled (WVZ 08/22/762), 2022
anodized aluminum
29.5 x 27.5 x 3.9 inches
HT273
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$4,500
Michael Post Untitled (WVZ 8/23/762), 2023 light blue car paint (mirroring), acrylic on aluminum
37.8 x 35.4 x 2.25 inches
MP189
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$5,500
Michael Post
Untitled (WVZ 7/23/761), 2023 blue car paint (mirroring), acrylic on steel
34.7 x 17.7 x 2 inches
MP188
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Heiner Thiel
Untitled (WVZ 757), 2022
anodized aluminum
25.2 x 16.5 x 3.7 inches
HT267
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Price on request
Peter Weber
M5+2xM6 FBL6, 2021 felt
22 x 20.4 x 1.8 inches
PW040
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Price on request
$4,300
Peter Weber
9 Large Squares III, 2023 Edition 2/9 staineleess steel, powercoat
38 x 38.5 x 3.5 inches
PW037
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$4,500
Heiner Thiel Untitled (WVZ 764), 2023 anodized aluminum
26.4 x 26.4 x 5.2 inches
HT268
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$5,500
$4,800