Siegfried Gohr

Uta Schotten

The painter surveys herself and does so with a merciless lack of restraint. Doing this, she leans on photography to supply apparently reliable basic data. The photographic picture proves, however, to be unable to hold its own against the procedures of painting. Painting corrodes the figurative and mimetic substance of the motifs. The possible naturalism which is inherent to photography dissolves gradually. The often sought after appeal which comes about when a photograph gets transformed by painting is lost. If we are to establish her search as one taking place where pictures come into being and then disappear again, we may have a better idea of what matters to Uta Schotten.

It comes, therefore, as no surprise that the motif of a pair of eyes is so significant in her faces. The eyes, into which you look and which glance at the outside world, form a decisive boundary. 
They are the fixed points as well as mysterious transitions from inside to outside, from I to the world, but also to the picture coming into being and fleeing. Thus the view of oneself does not lead to self-assurance but rather to countless questions. The painter’s form of expression is selected in such a way that the lack of mercy in the eyes appears delicate and gentle in the picture. The colour tones remain broken, drenched in light. The paintbrush is applied confidently and yet the observer gets the feeling that the brush touches what the eyes see as if it were imbued with the sensitivity of careful fingers.

Siegfried Gohr, May 2000