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Petra
Voegtle
Petra
Voegtle's scroll paintings on silk are about the magic
symbols and secrets mankind has surrounded himself
since the beginning of time. The single images are
multi-layered, each telling different stories about
the human past, the beliefs, the fears, the longing
for protection and hopes for a fulfilled life. No
matter how old those symbols are and from which region
of the world they come from and what they stand for
- they are returning from century to century, from
one language to another. Voegtle's vision and goal
as an artist is to be innovative, narrative and imaginative.
While her imagination always reveals a longing for
aesthetic that is coherent to her desire for harmony
and balance, Voegtle also wants to create a strong
dialogue using images from life in all its facettes.
Although Voegtle feels deeply influenced by Asian
cultures and her admiration goes to countless unknown
artists of the past, she also draws on nature, its
forms and colors. At the same time, she feels the
responsibility as an artist to show the uncomfortable
issues of our society, using figurative, sometimes
abstract imagery.
Voegtle uses brushes, carving knives and other tools
for her work and often her camera lens is her elongated
eye to capture fragile moments. With all these she
wants to create art which is recognized for its uniqueness
using the elements of traditional techniques and materials
in a new context and which is bold enough to give
room for experiments. Voegtle found silk to be the
material which is predestined for multiple use and
experiments, both as canvas and as sculpting material.
Most intriguing for her is the moment of surprise.
Silk normally conveys softness and smoothness but
she wants the viewer to believe it is stone, metal
or any other material but soft cloth, using the techniques
of trompe d'oeuil.
Searching for a synonym to identify her artwork, Voegtle
found "vyala" which is an old sanskrit word
- a mythical catlike animal that can have different
faces. The vyala motif is ubiquitous in medieval Indian
temples. Symbolically it represents the struggle to
subdue the passions. The vyala's body is always a
rampant lion sometimes engaged in some combat with
a warrior or female trying to tame it. A symbol for
the struggle of life and a symbol for the conflict
within. That's why she chose this name. Voegtle has
shown her work all over the United States and Europe.
In the late 90's she began to carve wood. Extensive
travels to southeast Asian countries influenced her
early art style. Especially drawn to transforming
the overwhelming ornamentation of temples and other
places of worship into her own imagery she began to
explore the figures of Asian myths, incorporating
them into her carving, later into her silk art: silk
painted scrolls and silk carvings. These days Voegtle's
work is concentrating on stitched silk paintings which
are still using fragments from her early explorations
but also themes from nature and society. Her work
continues to travel the world and tries to reach people's
minds.
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