The words "the visible again, but makes visible" also apply to the oeuvre of Louis Schlumberger. After a break of many years, he has passionately returned to his artistic work. Even before 2006, the artist had attracted attention on the international art scene with his large-format paintings, with exhibitions in renowned galleries in Switzerland and London. Now the Sarasin Art Gallery is presenting a cross-section of his current work. DvB
Louis Schlumberger
Basel - The face of a woman glimmers out of a gloomy background, only barely illuminated by green tones, under many impasto layers of paint. <Remember Afghanistan>, 2022, is the name of the large-format painting and, for Louis Schlumberger (*1962, Basel), it conceals the reblooming of Afghanistan, which can only come from women. The model for the painting was the portrait of a Pashtun girl with striking green eyes by the photographer Steve McCurry, which was published in 1985 in the magazine <National Geography> and then distributed worldwide. Just as women are maltreated under the current leadership, the artist maltreated the beautiful image of the refugee child with asphalt varnish and other aggres sive means. Schlumberger always applies many layers of different materials in gestural, abstract colour rhythms. In the background of the picture, beings appear as pale shadows or dark spots with archaic, demonic or angelic features, who operate in invisible worlds, be it futuristic or sunken cities, underwater or in (burning) rainforests. Sometimes they may reflect our inner echoing voices and feelings. In <The Masters of the Universe>, 2021, viewers are confronted with the concentrated force of countless, sinister grimaces and elusive figures that vibrate greedily and power- hungrily in a space narrowed in perspective. From this, many would like to save themselves with a Munchian scream, as in <The Lock Freeze> , 2021, which resounds poignantly in both image and real space. Through an intensive May process, the artist approaches his respective ecological, civic or political theme. In the course of his critical questioning, which are reflected in the phased colour and material actual landscapes of the soul emerge. These represent a mystical world, which for the painter is equally perceptible as our real world. Thus Paul Klee's famous dictum "Art does not give
Louis Schlumberger - Remember Afghanistan, 2022, acrylic, oil pastel, enamel, paste, varnish, powder pigment, resin,asphalt on canvas, 110x 150 cm
Louis Schlumberger - The Masters of the Uni verse, 2021,acrylic, enamel, varnish, resin,asphalt, spray,tinting concentrate, powder pigment, glaze on canvas, 110x 130 cm
Sarasin Art Gallery, 1.9.-1.10. /1 www. sarasinart. ch
66 Art Bulletin 9/2022
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