Artist Statement 2018

The Weight of Orchids- Metaphor of Flora

In 2014, I was awarded first place at the national NANA Competition at Lucky Street Gallery, Key West, FL and was granted a month-long residency at The Studios of Key West.  I received the notification a week after my father, one of my most outspoken supporters, passed away. I was shaken to the core, grieving and not very sure at all, that I would be able to enter and accept that given sanctuary in the near future.

In February, 2017, I packed my studio and transferred my life to the subtropical beautiful island.

On the first day I passed a front yard that was abundantly embellished by orchids.

I was immediately put under the spell of those beautiful flowers which were attached to the palm trees' trunks. They resembled swaying gorgeous color dots with a profound sense of vulnerability.

From that day on, I only printed and painted orchids, lush gardens and imaginary spaces, sanctuaries that have the power to stop time and let you reset.

First timid and delicate, I started to paint orchids on my aluminum printing plate, only to grow bolder and more colorful with each following encaustic monotype.

It became a roar that changed my color palette and sparked the new abstract expressionistic series “Metaphor of Flora” in oil and acrylic resulting in large, gestural, paintings that depict both my vision and feeling of a world where beauty and vulnerability are the touching keystones.

In the studio of her uncle Werner Holz, an outstanding German artist, Birgit Huttemann-Holz was exposed to Imaginary Realism/ Phantastische Malerei from early age on. Intrigued by the contradictions of the human psyche she first started to write poetry.

While working as a Physical Therapist, she went to study literature, philosophy and media science at the University of Karlsruhe and Philipps-University in Marburg, Germany.

A sudden move to the US triggered an end to her writings. A universal language was needed- a visual form that moved her words beyond the limitations of translations and geography.

Birgit’s energetic works show a lush world, where nature is in constant celebration. Orchids, verdant gardens, and imaginary spaces become synonym with sanctuaries. Deeply inspired by the beauty of flowers and landscapes, Huttemann-Holz pushes her subject to a place of gestural abstraction with sweeping gestures, layering curves, and punctuating forms of saturated tones.

She employs a myriad of media, including encaustic, oil, acrylic, encaustic monotype and even throwing and painting ceramics.

Birgit Huttemann-Holz depicts both her vision and feeling of a world where beauty and vulnerability are the touching keystones.

Birgit Huttemann-Holz has exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in Germany, The Netherlands, and in the US.

She was awarded Finalist of the International Portrait Competition, Society for Art of Imagination, UK (2011), Best of Show, Platform Award, OK (2013), Best of Show, NANA 14, FL (2014) and won multiple awards nationwide.

Her work was selected for Studio Visit Magazine, winter edition 2013, spring edition 2017, for the Palm Award, Germany (Certificate of Excellence), 2015, Saatchi Collections "New This Week", April 2014, January 2018,” Inspired by Cy Twombly” April 2018, The Other Art Fair, Brooklyn, NY, Nov 2017 and May 2018, and The Other Art Fair Chicago, IL, September 2018.

Her book "Enkaustik- Das Grundlagenbuch zur Wachsmalerei" was published April 2015 by Christopherus Verlag, Germany and translated into English in 2017, “How to create Encaustic Art- A guide to painting with wax”.
“Wachsmalerei- Birgit Huttemann-Holz”, a tutorial video and three documentations were published in 2016/2017 with the group “geistreich-lernen.de”, Germany

In February 2017, she attended a month-long residency at The Studios of Key West.

Huttemann-Holz lives and works in Detroit, USA.