LEONIE SPECHT – ORNAMENTAL PORTALS

#SaveTheDate Berlin! What is real? The attempts to depict fantastic worlds are as old as mankind itself. Cave paintings and symbols, portals decorated with ornaments and creatures from fables and mythology have always depicted present worlds as well as worlds hidden from us. But have we not long been part of all these worlds, when our view is always a composition of infinite realities and fantasies? Text by Lena Katharina Streckert.

A passing thought, a fragment of a dream, a feeling, our experiences and memories, our intuition and imagination form meta-layers that are transported in real-time from the inside to the outside to be perceived as supposed reality. Thus, both the internal view and the perception of the outside world are not only different from individual to individual but also within each being.

Due to the constant change of external and internal influences, the perception of our realities is in constant flow. If we manage to embrace this flow and understand the subjectivity of reality, it can provide our inner world with the necessary lightness to exist in an outer world like the one we live in today. Dissolving the constructs of Reality and Fantasy and establishing a belief in worlds individually designed by our minds is an important part of Leonie Specht’s body of work. Consisting of multiple layers, her canvases depict the complexity of those individual worlds. Watercolours provide the works with the necessary lightness and translucency to connect all meta-layers and perceptions. By using symbols and ornaments, recurring patterns, and a broad spectrum of colour, the artist unites the internal and external dimensions in her artworks.

“My works represent a moment in infinity, a fleeting thought, something I think I’ve seen, a dream I can’t quite remember. For me, they reflect a deeper understanding of what I’ve been looking for in my practice. The main factor was the shift in focus from the external to the internal. Looseness, translucency, meta layers, spontaneity, surrender, colour, depth, figuration and above all a portal that allows me to access something deeper than what I think I know.”

However, the works not only serve as portals for the artist herself but also for their recipients. Both the canvases as a whole and individual layers or details can serve as access points to shift the previously external view of the work into a view of the inner self. In particular, the ornaments, symbols and creatures, which are both highlighted in colour and yet translucent, are intended to stimulate the viewer’s imagination and provide deeper access to other meta-layers. Thus Specht attempts to “create an understanding of the invisible to feel more connected to the mysteries that surround us.” It is precisely because the question of the real and the fantastic remains unanswered in Specht’s works that it remains relevant and opens up new perspectives on the world in which we find ourselves.

Text by Lena Katharina Streckert.