When one talks of the tex­ture of a picture one usual-ly refers to the structure of the paint medium that re-veals itself on the surface of the canvas. The case is different though in the paintings of Susanne Acker-mann from Karlsruhe. She plumbs the tex­ture of her painting not so much in the surface than the depths of the picture space.

This is shown quite paradigmatically in her untitled piece from the year 2004. The work has been done in a square format, and the totally abstract compos-ition is based on an orthogonal grid. Horizontally an arrangement of wider and narrower stripes can be distinguished, while vertically the pattern proceeds at more or less regular intervals. In addition, this verticality is underlined by brush strokes that result from the very act of applying the paint as a glaze with the brush.

These glazes are important in two respects: on the one hand they produce gentle blurs between the  colour surfaces which, during the course of painting, gradually replace the underlying grid. Although the latter remains recognizable, it yields to a compos-itional rhythm that lives from colour contrasts,  and even more so from the intermediate shades. The result is a tex­ture that is reminiscent of an ex­treme macroscopic view of a piece of fabric. On the other hand, this glazing allows colours to be built up in countless layers, while nevertheless allowing them to seem transparent. In this way the aforemen-tioned tex­ture of the painting gains in depth, allow-ing as it were a retrograde effect to occur: while Susanne Ackermann genuinely develops the depth of her paintings on the surface, the viewer gains the impression that the artist is penetrating the depths of the picture space from the surface.

“At some point,” as Susanne Ackermann describes her work at the canvas, “not only is the surface of the picture ground filled, but… a certain intensity is reached that grants the broad, individual brushstrokes enough space to oscillate between the surface and the depths.” Each brushstroke requires the utmost concentration if one is to reach this point. And great precision is required in order to gauge the exact effect that each individual brushstroke will have in the overall configuration and the texture of the painting. Only then does Susanne Ackermann succeed in bringing the textures in her paintings from the depths of the picture space to the surface – and vice versa.

Susanne Ackermann

1962 born in Oldenburg

Lives and works in Karlsruhe