Raffael Bader

Leipzig-based visual artist, Raffael Bader, graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Leipzig, Germany, in 2019. He grew up in South Germany but traveled around in his youth. The change of location, which is also reflected in his longer stays abroad (Australia, Asia, and Latin America, among others), has a decisive influence on his work. Bader’s paintings deal with his view of a world full of tensions, while these tensions hold our world together. In 2020 he began exhibiting internationally, including in Switzerland and the USA. In 2020 he received the "Denkzeit" grant from the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, and in 2021 he received a work scholarship from the Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn.

The artist writes:  "I understand my painting as an open process, so I do not seek perfection, which would seem like the end of potential. Thus, I have realized that the possibility of imperfection leads me to an abstract way of working, where I can focus on the essentials and create works that invite the viewer to resonate with their own experience and inner state. In the process of creating an image, I look for what presents itself to me as the core elements of nature. I find this in landscapes and their colors, shapes, and lines, which awaken our longings while simultaneously containing the subtle presence of danger. Images emerge that originate from reality. However, not the one that is currently being experienced, but the reality that forms in me over time, manifesting itself in my paintings. The forms found move between strong abstraction and familiar structures.

Most of the paintings start with "notes," which are small, simple drawings that arise intuitively, then I decide whether I want to paint them. When I begin with these drawings, the painting quickly takes on a life of its own. I paint with oil paint and oil pencils on canvas. I use a medium that makes the oil paint water-miscible so that I can create very thin watery layers as well as thicker ones. In conjunction with the oil pencils, I can create different textures. It is important to me that the canvas does not appear completely covered in paint. I also work with different techniques on paper."