Once again Sebastian Heiner journeyed to the Far East to paint. From 2004 till 2008 he maintained a studio in Beijing as well as in Berlin. Soon artists, curators and gallery owners living in China’s capital started to take notice of him. At the end of his duration, works Sebastian made in China were shown in Beijing and in Germany in highly acclaimed solo exhibitions.
2004年春天， 德国艺术家Sebastian Heiner在柏林Mitte区的家， 方桌上摆着友人送的关于中国的书，《巴尔扎克与小裁缝》，《龙的故乡》等等。这些书的封面或是龙的图案或是有着大辫子细眼睛的女孩子，带着这些印象，Sebastian开始了他的中国之旅。
Once again Sebastian Heiner journeyed to the Far East to paint. From 2004 till 2008 he maintained a studio in Beijing as well as in Berlin. Soon artists, curators and gallery owners living in China’s capital started to take notice of him. At the end of his duration, works Sebastian made in China were shown in Beijing and in Germany in highly acclaimed solo exhibitions.
In the summer of 2005, by chance, I was introduced to Sebastian Heiner by Ling Jian, a Chinese artist living in Germany. Heiner extended a warm invitation fo my wife and me to visit his studio in Suojiacun. When entering his studio, we were stunned by the sight of a large pile of used paint tubes, tissue paper, fly swatters, mops and comps, things that are onmipresent in a farm produce market. We had visited many studios before, but none was in such a mess. The foremost impression on me was “madness”.
Berlin is a city that has gone through devastation and continual reconstruction. District Mitte, which was originally situated in Eastern Berlin, has gradually turned into a growing art communitiy of the city.
In the spring of 2004, German artist Sebastian Heiner sat in his home in Berlin’s Mitte district. Laid out on a table in front of him were the books about China given to him by friends – “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress”, “Home of the Dragon”, and so on.
German artist Sebastian Heiner arrived in Beijing in April 2004 and began to immerse himself in this foreign culture. As a painter, he naturally chooses to express his understanding of this culture through painting. There is certain looseness and freedom has its preconditons, since it has arisen from a specific locality. To be more exact, he’s set himself free in his work by re-discovering himself in another culture. He’s created a new series of works based on such instinct.
Diese Figuren wirken anders als gewohnt. Sie sind nicht einfach Gestalten, die gesichts-rund namenlos das Bild bevölkern, sondern sie erscheinen wie Persönlichkeiten mit Ideen und Ansichten, mit Gefühlen und Träumen. Sie sind dort platziert, wo der Betrachterblick meist ansetzt, an der linken Bildkante.
