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Following the fruitful cultural exchanges with the city of Crailsheim, the Carmel welcomes from January 20 to February 23 the works of Gerhard Frank, emblematic painter of our twin city.
Born in Crailsheim in 1948, Gerhard Frank is not a classic artist who passed through art academies. Self-taught, baker’s son and pastry chef himself, he will resume family activity before selling the company in 1988 to devote himself definitively to painting and becoming one of the most important artists in Croisesheim and Hohenlohe.
Artist animated by his creative force, his passion and his perseverance, he has always sought new artistic challenges through his city, of which he has become “the best artistic ambassador”. Firmly anchored in the lives of the inhabitants, his will is reflected not only in the innumerable variations of Horaffen which he painted, but also in the artistic examination of the towers of the city, the drawings in the pencil of the views of the city and The very noticed series of paintings with an expiation crosses of Crailsheim and Hohenlohe. Fleeing the facilities of development, now his own pictorial language and his understanding of art during his career, his clowns paintings, the famous views of herons or works such as the glass window of the Ingersheim funeral hall, the Silhouette of the tower which decorates the panels with an outfit of Crailsheim, are real technical culmination jewelry supporting a serene mastery of art.
Gérarhard Frank is today the emblematic painter of the city by first being known thanks to his reinterpretation of the city logo in the form of “W”, the Horaffen, which he declined in countless variations and which made its success. An exhibition on this work is underway at the Tourist Office, in parallel with that which is held at Carmel.
Exhibition at Carmel
-For the exhibition at Carmel de Pamiers, the artist presents two series of works: the expiatory crosses “Sühnekreuze” and the imaginary landscapes “Terra Incognita”.
Sober and ghostly, disturbing presences, the expiatory crosses inhabit the rooms of Carmel by their history marked by legends and ancient rites which go back to the Middle Ages. Made with paint and with raw materials (scrap, earth, leaf), black crosses are available in different formats and are representations of the real crosses that remain in the Centerle region.
In view of the works, poems by Gottfried Benn were written on the walls. German poet of the beginning of the 20th century, Benn, a figure of expressionism, is considered one of the greatest German -speaking writers of his generation.
The second series, the landscapes “Terra incognita”, brighter and colorful, offers a pictorial variation of aerial and imaginary views of dreamlike landscapes.
