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Katalog “Karl-Heinz Jeiter – Kein Tag ohne Linie –
Zeichnungen von 2001 bis heute”
Aachen, 2005 - Text von Dr. Dagmar Preising
Übersetznung ins Englische von Holger Hermannsen
Nulla dies sine linea - No day without a line
The drawings by Karl-Heinz Jeiter
As an artist whose whole œuvre is dedicated to the art
of drawing, Karl-Heinz Jeiter’s position is certainly unique. Graphite
and colour pencils are the only instruments he ever uses for his abstract
compositions, and all of his visual ideas are realized on paper. Considering
the diversity of his artistic work, this kind of self-imposed technical
limitation is nothing short of surprising. His work comprises everything
from small drawings in his sketchbook to large drawings mounted on wooden
panels measuring several meters. Karl-Heinz Jeiter explores the possibilities
and limitations of drawing - he discusses the medium of drawing by means
of the drawing itself.
The constitutive element of each drawing is the line as
the most direct expression of artistic imagination. Since the Renaissance,
drawings have been held in high esteem. They represented the creative
potential, a draft that was intended to be realized in a different technique
afterwards and only then became the final artwork. The classical drawing
was thus primarily meant as a draft for paintings or sculptures. The
emancipation from this context, its increasing acceptance as an autonomous
genre developing its own means of expression is a process that had already
been observed during the 18th century. But only with the break of traditions
by the avant-gardes of the beginning 20th century it was fully completed.
In Karl-Heinz Jeiter’s work, both functional aspects of the drawing
are present: initial draft and final 'product'. In many of his sketch
books we actually find drafts that have later been realized as large-scale
drawings.
Karl-Heinz Jeiter never spends a day without drawing,
either working on his easel or drawing in his sketchbooks. Nulla dies
sine linea, the motto of 19th century artist Adolf von Menzel, is what
drives Karl-Heinz Jeiter. His sketches, mostly arranged in various numbers
of blocks in his sketchbooks, are notes of compositional ideas. The
geometrical arrangement of his sketches shows that they should not be
considered as isolated works but as en-bloc presentations that embed
individual compositions in a larger formal context.In these small sketches,
the characteristic qualities of the genre become most obvious and show
unsurpassed technical skill. Securely the graphite pencil glides over
the paper, colour pencils are used sparsely. Vibrating lines and dense
hatchings form clearly defined rectangles.
Small abstract compositions emerge, creating a contrast between white
paper and light hatchings and condensed darker areas. Their gesture-like
structure and the spatial effect of dark-to-bright transitions give
them the character of landscapes (though landscapes have not been intended).
From the vast amount of sketches, some serve as drafts
for monumental drawings. Karl-Heinz Jeiter then follows different approaches:
On the one hand, he likes to explore paper in its quality as an artistic
material. He does not cover the whole sheet with his compositions but
leaves the borders untouched so that they attract more attraction than
usual. The emphasis of the underlying material, that is very much in
line with the idea of classical drawings, can be further enhanced by
a frameless presentation.
On the other hand, Karl-Heinz Jeiter often conceals the characteristics
of the material up to the point of making the paper virtually invisible.
In that case, the composition fills the whole sheet and the edges are
covered by a frame. Concealing the white borders seems to enhance the
colours by itself. The few white areas of paper amidst the colourful
contrasts almost appear to be like white patches of colour that were
added later on. In fact, these works rather tend to look like gouaches.
A close view still reveals the drawing-like structure with its fine
pencil lines on white paper. The overall composition, however, only
becomes apparent from a greater distance when the individual lines merge
into areas of changing colours. The concealed white paper and the compositional
arrangement of colourful geometrical areas have the effect that these
large-scale drawings appear to be something in between painting and
drawing. This is one of the main characteristics of Karl-Heinz Jeiter’s
work.
Another series of larger works are mounted on wooden panels.
The drawing again extends to the edge of the paper, and the wooden panels
would not suggest paper as the underlying material. These wooden panels
are used in Karl-Heinz Jeiter's en-bloc presentations. They show several
smaller drawings that, in their specific arrangement, form a global
composition. Such an approach is of course highly untypical of drawings
- they rather take on the character of paintings. A closer examination
still shows the structure of graphite and pencil lines, but such a close
view is not intended. The characteristic ambivalence of drawing and
painting has been mentioned before. Here, the limits of drawing have
been left behind and what we see has actually become a painting.
The antagonisms that characterize Karl-Heinz Jeiter’s
larger drawings not only result from the size and way of presentation
but also from the visual structure. Karl-Heinz Jeiter’s works are composed
of geometrical areas. Bundles of lines and dense hatchings are stacked
in multiple layers and then partly removed again using an eraser or
sand paper. This leads to changing colours that may remind of landscapes.
The lines are actually so fine that the result is similar to a painting
technique used in water colour, tempera and oil. The deep black colours
created with very soft graphite pencils and powder and dominating many
of his works attains an almost painting-like quality. The layering of
different colours creates rich shades of colours that are typical of
painting but not usually characteristic of drawings. The fine structure
of individual black lines on top of a coloured patches, however, is
an fundamental element of drawing again.
A last aspect in Karl-Heinz Jeiter’s is not less surprising: the relationship
of abstract composition and three-dimensional visual effect. The amazing
spatial depth of his works fascinates the viewer and incites him to
watch time and time again. The play of lines, shades and space is not
without a poetic effect. Comparatively trivial, however, are the titles
(if there are titles at all). Gilgamesh, Ettlingen, Terrassa - 345 have
no connection whatsoever with the image itself. They only keep track
of the places and situation where the artist was at the moment when
the drawings or sketches were made.
Karl-Heinz Jeiter’s work is highly appealing through its
inherent contradictions and antagonisms. In his compositional drafts
he still adheres to the classical idea of drawing, but in his larger
drawings that are intended to be hung on a wall, he explores new possibilities
that lead him beyond the limits of the genre without ever giving up
the principle of the drawn line.
Dr. Dagmar Preising, Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen
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