Nadine Schemmann’s color feelings
Nadine Schemmann’s studio is quiet in a very special way. This is certainly due to her soft voice and alert, thoughtful gaze, but also to the room itself. A few fabrics hang on the wall, displaying flowing colors and shapes. The rest of the works are carefully collected in a corner and otherwise the room is almost empty – a desk with a few books and another on which brushes, bottles and tubes are accurately lined up.
Nadine originally studied design and then worked as an illustrator for fashion magazines and advertising agencies. In the beginning, she worked mainly on the computer and used brushes and paint rather cautiously. In the meantime she likes to make abstract paintings, which she shows in art exhibitions – her big dream is to exhibit in the USA, where she lived for a year during her studies. In the fall she has an exhibition in Canada and she feels a little closer to her dream there.
Nadine tells us that sometimes it's not so easy to get started on a new piece of work. As soon as the first drops melt on the fabric, however, she often can't stop. That's why she wants to continue making art for a long time. (At least until she's a grandma!) But what is it about all those billowing shapes and flowing fields of color?
Nadine tells us that even as a child she saw colors when she met people or listened to music (by the way, this special ability where different sensory impressions mix is called synesthesia). She used to think it was strange and didn't want to talk to anyone about it. Gradually, however, she has become comfortable with this special ability and has decided to collect and record her color impressions. She stretches some of the painted fabrics on stretcher frames, while she attaches others only to one or two points. They then float like ghostly flowing sculptures on the wall or in the middle of the room, showing only a fraction of the painting. The combination of the stretched and sculptural works then creates a whole, she says - because even when we meet, there is always something solid, tense and something that flows and is quite soft and relaxed.
When Nadine notices that our fingers are itching between all the colors, we get our own pieces of fabric and are allowed to try them out. Instead of brushes, she gives us pipettes, fine glass tubes into which we suck the paint and then drip it onto the moistened fabric. The color spreads in an instant and develops a colorful life of its own. After this exercise, Nadine rolls out a large sheet of fabric, which we all cover together with splashes and dabs of paint and then work on with our hands. Even though our picture ends up looking much more colorful and wild than Nadine’s carefully composed works, it also has quieter parts and tells just as much about the encounters of the most diverse colors, moods and speeds. It is only with a heavy heart that we can tear ourselves away from the pipettes to make our way home. Nadine bids us farewell on the long corridor to the staircase with a cheerful smile and we are sure – her memory of us is colorful!
