Featured Artist April 2015

Christel Dillbohner

Christel Dillbohner is a researcher and explorer of the visual world. She has presented her site-specific installations in many galleries and museums in the USA, Germany and Japan. Born in 1956 in Cologne, Germany, she studied painting with Renate Lewandoski and Karl Marx at the Kölner Werkschule (FHS Kunst + Design). From 1986-96, she lived and worked in Los Angeles, California. Since 1996, her home has been in Berkeley, CA. Here, she has her studio and workshop where she translates her visual notes from the field into tangible objects. 

Christel is featured in a two person exhibit titled CircumNavigators at the Graduate Theological Union Library, April 30 - August 15, 2015. A reception and reading takes place Thursday, April 30, 6-8pm. Learn More at www.gtu.edu.

Artist Statement

States of being are the subject of my painterly explorations. I capture atmospheric shifts and changes, fix them in place by means of impressions from and of the natural world: water running, falling, flooding, or seeping away. Celestial activities and astronomic occurrences are mirrored in the stillness of a body of water.

During the painting process I am guided by my internal visions of geological forms and structures. The paintings oscillate between abstract and representation: single gestures can conjure up volcanoes, glaciers, rivers. The illuminated opacity shifts and changes. Energetic movement and utter stillness are juxtaposed in these mood landscapes.

The paintings reflect the times we live in - from global instability to climate disruption, responsibly in part for social strife. To me, the paintings seem otherworldly, touching the inner chord of the unknown with their surprising vantage points.

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