Kategorie: Tina Oelker

Description

I developed Kairos over many years, allowing the painting to transform step by step. Beginning in 2003 as a hunting scene, the work gradually absorbed new layers, figures and ideas before arriving at its present abstract form. Earlier states remain embedded beneath the surface, making time itself part of the painting. The title Kairos refers to the moment when something shifts — the point at which a new possibility appears and the image finds its own direction.

Description

With Athene, I returned to an earlier painting from my 2003 installation b-present, revisiting it fifteen years later through a process of transformation. Originally part of a painted club scene, the work gradually evolved into a new image while preserving traces of its earlier state. Athene brings together different moments of my artistic practice, allowing past and present to coexist within a single painting.

Description

Created through a three-stage process, Zeus gradually evolved as each new layer transformed the one beneath it. Earlier traces remain visible, allowing different stages of the painting to coexist within the finished work. The title reflects the presence that gradually revealed itself through the process rather than a predetermined idea.

Description

This painting was originally made as a self-portrait of me in the bathtub, after the plug had been pulled and the water had already drained away. I exhibited it in 2007 at the Museum Kamen as part of the exhibition Animalia. In 2020, I took the painting up again and covered what had been so obvious in the first version, partially painting over it and creating another layer. In a way, this was also a protective gesture towards a certain fragile openness in the painting, which had turned out to be less provocative than I had originally imagined. Looking at the painting now in its final form, I feel that the whole range of the original intention has become almost more direct through the overpainting.

Description

With Prometheus, I began the Gods & Squares series within 25 Colours Stockholm, opening a new field of exploration between colour, myth, and abstraction. Built upon a coloured oil imprimatura over a triple white gesso ground, the painting develops a luminous, pearlescent depth. Created through a direct and spontaneous process, layers of colour and gesture remain visible, allowing abstract forms and figurative echoes to coexist. Reduced to essential brushstrokes, Prometheus places colour, rhythm, and presence at the centre of the work.

Description

With Dione, I continue the dialogue between colour, myth and abstraction that began with Prometheus. Named after the Greek goddess of fertility and abundance, the painting unfolds through luminous layers of colour and a pearlescent surface created with the imprimatura technique. Between suggestion and abstraction, forms slowly emerge and recede, allowing the image to reveal itself through different moments of perception. Dione expands the visual language of the gods series through openness, balance and transformation.

Description

Created between 2010 and 2019, Containerlove emerged through a continuous process of transformation. Over several years, the painting was repeatedly revisited until it found its final place within 25 Colours Stockholm. Rotating the composition and introducing rhythmic stripes fundamentally changed its visual presence, while the title—borrowed from a 1989 song by Phillip Boa—opens a poetic dialogue between painting, memory and music.

Description

„Rollercoaster“ began in 2008 as part of the „At Table“ series. An abstracted portrait of Tina Oelker’s mother served as the starting point. In 2017 she completely removed the abstract face. In 2019 Tina integrated the work into the „25 Colours Stockholm“ program and completed it. Only then did it receive the title „Rollercoaster“. This development over more than a decade shows her willingness to reinterpret earlier works.

„Rollercoaster“ begann 2008 als Teil der „Zu Tisch“-Serie. Ein abstrahiertes Porträt von Tina Oelkers Mutter diente als Ausgangspunkt. 2017 entfernte sie das abstrakte Gesicht vollständig. 2019 integrierte Tina das Werk in das „25 Farben Stockholm“-Programm und vollendete es. Erst dann erhielt es den Titel „Rollercoaster“. Diese Entwicklung über mehr als ein Jahrzehnt zeigt ihre Bereitschaft, frühere Arbeiten neu zu interpretieren.