Claudio Wichert
ARCANA ARCANISSIMA
13 - 24 JAN 2022
presented by Clemens Wilhelm
SILVER TO GOLD
by Stefan Ewald
Claudio Wichert’s paintings tell stories of the human desire for transcendence. By depicting archetypal symbols in dark yet vibrant colors, he creates mystical motifs that provide the basis for his mysterious narrations. We see black mountain ranges, spires and castles, and now and then geometric shapes that surround them. When I turn my gaze onto Claudio Wichert’s paintings, I feel as if I was watching a series of ancient, enchanted illustrations. I cannot help but wonder if they are part of a long-forgotten myth that is being retold painting by painting.
The artist has been studying the history of alchemy for years, but he is not concerned with sorcery or occultism, as one might think upon first hearing this term. Rather, his paintings revolve around a mystical understanding of anthropological realities. They are the result of an intensive examination of the deficient conditions of our times.
People find it increasingly difficult to find their place in the world, they feel less and less part of the whole. We maneuver through a hyper-technological world as forlorn individuals. Our only company is a constant feeling of emptiness that must be numbed with entertainment or intoxication. Despite all the opportunities for distraction or communication, our present human condition is one of isolation. At the same time, we suffer from this loneliness. We strive to find the ultimate insight, an enlightening experience.
Claudio Wichert’s paintings deal with the individual’s attempt to make contact with a higher, more spiritual realm. His somber landscapes represent the dark aspects of the human soul. Spires and castles rise up into the sky, where the material world merges into the immaterial, where the physical world turns spiritual. The earthly realm is the now, is the dark, is the nonhuman. Beyond the horizon, synthesis happens: the corporal dissolves into the spiritual. Alchemistically speaking, the transmutation is completed.
The structure in Claudio Wichert’s paintings is similar. The cyclical repetition of pictorial elements shows the intensity with which the artist experiences his subject. I imagine him to be a storyteller sitting in front of his fireplace and reminiscing about human enhancement: a tale about turning silver to gold.
The longer I observe these paintings, the clearer I see that there is something within me that is glowing just as darkly as Claudio Wichert’s mystical landscapes. I wonder what it is that I am missing to feel better in this world. Will I ever become a better, more content version of myself? Or will I have to keep dreaming about it?
(Translated from German by Dennis Buchholtz)
