Harald Klemm - Pictures, Art, Photography

Harald Klemm

Background Information about Harald Klemm

Introduction

Summer Time

Harald Klemm is a diverse artist. As a photographer, filmmaker, and painter, he combines impressions, motives, and themes through his typically fantastical form of story telling.

In his paintings he celebrates the mood and colors of summer, glowing richly in the sunlight. These emerge as loaded atmospheric scenery, with his characteristic summer homes embedded in dense vegetation. Based on the perfect syntheses of photographic realism and artistic gesture, his scenes transform into vividly colored idylls through the use of unconventional fine points or shimmering textures and latticing.

On wood or canvas, with intensely pigmented acrylic colors, he relies on luminous expression to stylize ideal landscapes. Klemm seems to carry us off to a paradise of secret, hard-to-get-to-hideaways. His houses and scenes depict familiar comforts, such as wide park-landscapes blooming with intense color.

Above all, his pictures represent ideals. They awaken the longing in us to withdraw from the turmoil of a hectic life in the city. The light reinforces the elements and natural silhouettes with rich contrasts of color, partially optically merging the fore and background, but also contrasting them, as they float slightly apart.

The simple wooden structures, small, inviting “summer homes” and the boat houses sitting partially in the reeds exude a magical atmosphere. Klemm’s titles, such as “Red Paradise House” or “Summer Side Park” fuel excitement for a little holiday adventure.

His vivid color scale – reminiscent of a glowing, red sunset – evokes magical moments, creating an illusionary perception. Harald Klemm serves our longing for a special place, the glimmer of which draws our gaze and plunges us into nature. His techniques, however, are not primarily pointillist: rather than dissolve elements with an extreme blend of color, he enhances their long-distance effect. Even in a small format, he virtuously masters the optic of a dense atmospheric space, expanding the meticulous views as if presented on stage.

Christina Wendenburg

Bio

1960
Born in Mönchnengladbach, Germany
Since 1989Lives and works in Collogne and Berlin


Collections


Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, Collogne, Germany
Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar, Weimar, Germany

Museen und Galerien der Stadt Schweinfurt, Schweinfurt, Germany

Exhibitions


Single Exhibitions
2011Wald und Wiesen, Raab Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Schönheit ist Erinnerung II, Galerie Raab, Berlin, Germany
2009Schönheit ist Erinnerung I, Galerie Raab, Berlin, Germany
2006Inside Out, Galerie Raab, Berlin, Germany
2005Double-Check, Skala Galerie, Collogne, Germany
2001WATER – Neue Arbeiten, Skala Galerie, Collogne, Germany
1999TARGET – Neue Arbeiten, Skala Galerie, Collogne, Germany
Group Exhibitions
2011von 0 auf 100 - Das Auto in der jungen Kunst, Neue Kunst Gallery, Karlsruhe, Germany
Künstler für die HALLE ZEHN, Halle Zehn, Cap Cologne e.V., Collogne, Germany
Der Nachmittag überquert den Flur, Raab Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2010Wir sind das CAPital, CAP-Cologne im Künstlerforum Bonn, Bonn, Germany
ART MEETS MEDIA, Gallery ART CARGO, Athens, Greece
Stadt, Land, Mensch…, Kunsthaus Schill, Stuttgart, Germany
Me, Myself and I, Galerie Raab, Berlin, Germany
2009Nature, Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Chute du Mur: 20 ans (with Thoms Baumgärtel), Maison de Rhénanie-Palatinat, Dijon, Frankreich
20 Jahre Deutsche Einheit 1989-2009, Kunsthalle Schweinfurt, Germany
Mixed Media on Paper, Galerie Raab, Berlin, Germany
2008Die vergessenen Europäer, Stadtmuseum Köln, Collogne, Germany
Zwei mal Zehn in Halle 10, Halle Zehn. Cap Cologne e.V., Collogne, Germany
2007Aenne Burda Charity – Künstler helfen, Offenburg, Germany
Language / Environment, Museum of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Romeo und Julia, Galerie Raab, Berlin, Germany
Deutsche Einheit (with Thomas Baumgärtel), Museen der Stadt Schweinfurt, Schweinfurt, Germany
Tischgesellschaften, Galerie Raab, Berlin, Germany