The programme of my painting is very personal despite the many different forms of expression. The central theme of my work is painting itself. My pictures are primarily about the process of painting, while the ideas and motifs often come from my immediate working environment.

Whether the sensual materiality of the colours, photorealistic depictions or the succession of brushstrokes - the themes and motifs are fed by my search for the artistic possibilities of the medium. In this sense, there is no fixed theme that I consistently work on. Rather, it is about the respective pictorial idea and the energetic effect that I strive for when realising it. My aim is to create pictures or, in the case of art in architecture, places that can be experienced by the viewer primarily through the senses.

Examples of this are my colour landscapes: miniature landscapes modelled in oil paint, which are then painted hyper-realistically enlarged on canvas. Or photorealistic depictions of my studio and exhibition spaces.

In recent years, I have tried to simplify my painting more and more. In my current abstract works, I explore the diverse possibilities of colour overlays, layering, condensation and sequencing. In doing so, I work playfully with the simplest painterly gesture: the brushstroke. I created large-format canvases and numerous series of brush strokes on paper. These ‘Brush Stroke Palettes’ were initially just a means to an end: colour palettes to determine the colours for other works, but over time I discovered the simplicity and lightness of these unintentional compositions.

My modular paintings with monochrome colour panels are another variation on the playful use of colour. For example, ‘Fifty Shades Of Baby Blue’: Fifty canvases showing the nuances of a single colour.

In addition to my work in the studio, I also frequently develop art-in-building projects and here, too, I strive for a simple and clear formal language and usually work from the existing conditions. Design elements are, for example, painted stripes whose dimensions are based on the dimensions of the building elements, such as the height or depth of steps, and whose colours relate to the materials and furnishings.

Michael Luther