Should art react to the world’s inhospitable nature or dedicate itself to the beautiful semblance of surfaces? Should art simply be, being enough in itself, or should it offer answers to the major and minor problems of everyday life? Should utopias and visions be characteristic of art or should it adopt a pragmatic orientation? Art is constantly searching for new fields of work, attempting to plumb the limits of what constitutes art. Wherever we look, there are de-limitations and practised demarcation lines are being abandoned. Current art production offers a wide spectrum of answers, visual languages, strategies and starting points. Today, every stylistic statement and attitude seems possible, available and entitled to its existence in art. For some, art needs to be useful and provide a service, while others continue to favour the minimalist dogma of l’art pour l’art. Some are concrete, working with a chisel from the outside inwards and presenting a sculpture as the outcome; others have long been immersed in virtual worlds; some champion politics and intervention, encompassing themes such as climate catastrophe, urbanism and migration, while others stir up inner states. Which answers are provided by the works of Reinhold Budde: how can his œuvre be characterized – is there a thread that runs through it, lending it shape?
One central category making it easier for us to analyze and describe his multilayered work is that of the “in-between”. On the one hand, the “in-between” derives from the artist’s biography. Reinhold Budde was born in 1950, and so in terms of age he is between the avant-garde artists of the 1960s/70s and those involved in contemporary discourse. Today, the one group are between 70 and 75 years old, while the others are 30 to 35 years young. Budde studied design in Hamburg and painting in Barcelona. Longer trips to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macao, the Philippines and China expanded his horizon of experience. He has succeeded in evading the ups and downs of the market and the zeitgeist’s demands for permanent innovation. A privilege – for in this way he has been able to work peacefully on his œuvre and avoid pressure: conceiving, rejecting or affirming.
On the other hand, this “in-between” applies to the artistic œuvre itself. His works are neither exhausted in mere adaptation of the art of the 1960s/70s, nor can they be attributed directly to the interfaces of contemporary discourse. Reinhold Budde does not deny the historical preconditions to his art or capitulate before the great legacy of modernism with its overwhelming, developed constellations of content and aesthetics. Budde’s work has the potential to be assertive between the poles of 1960s/70s avant-garde art and the interfaces of contemporary discourse. Indeed, he has positioned himself between these poles. However, this positioning is not the expression of permanent uncertainty; Reinhold Budde is not plagued by constant doubts. On the contrary, the drive behind change is a reflective approach to his own activity, a critical questioning of his creative development to date.
It is rare for young artists today to concern themselves systematically with specific trends in art in order to develop those trends further and so arrive at their own form of expression. Instead, the dominant principle is one of sampling; modernism with its full repertoire is turned into material that can be cited. The postulates of exclusivity from the 1960s/70s have long ceased to be a taboo for the young generation. Nothing is excluded from art today: neither representation and abstraction nor autonomy and usefulness. In addition, fine art enters into reciprocal relations with pop, fashion and design. The question of genre has become obsolete. Video, installation, sculpture and performance are employed as a matter of course, just like painting. By contrast, the avant-garde appeared with a pretension to represent the current final, valid state of artistic development. This pretension is immanent in belief in continual development from the lower to the higher, in the notion of historical continuity.
On the one hand, the art business knows no rest in its search for innovation, and we expect constant changes. On the other hand, however, linear development processes have lost credibility and the power of conviction on almost every level: whether philosophical, political or aesthetic. Disenchantment has taken over from a euphoric notion of progress, a continual development from low to high. Hoped-for social changes have not emerged; visions and utopias have proved themselves erroneous. The postulate of permanent renewal has led to a large number of insoluble social problems. So-called technical progress and apparently unlimited growth have their darker sides as well. Equally, the notion of a development process in art, set out teleologically à priori against the triumph of progress, has been shown to be a mistake. One avant-garde was no longer replaced by a different avant-garde. Instead, the adjacency of many individual languages and modes of expression has moved to the forefront.
We know that we cannot reinvent the readymade or Minimalism, that it is not possible to paint in a more monochrome way than monochrome, be more concrete than concrete, or more informelle than informelle, but nevertheless we expect the constant de-limitation of previous values and continue to hope for the new. Our relation to art is characterized, therefore, by a strange ambivalence. Reinhold Budde faces up to this ambivalence. He can and does not wish to resolve it, but he finds a continuous form for his work, nonetheless. But how can we articulate the new? Minimal shifts, small steps in one direction or the other, subtle differences from what came before: these are all the more important today. And the new requires a period during which its feasibility, or lack of it can crystallize.
Of course discussions about painting are familiar to the artist; he knows that the medium has an infinitely long history and that almost everything has been tried out already. As ever, the debate with painting is characterized by irreconcilable opposites. For some, the adventure of painting lost its attraction long ago; for others, painting continues to be the great adventure, continually calling for rediscovery. Again and again, the end of painting has been postulated, but painting has succeeded in releasing sufficient energies to survive.
In 1990 Budde began working with monochrome picture processes, which were expressed in various media: paintings, drawings and lithographs. At an early stage, the artist escaped the absolutist claim of the individual image and worked in series, groups or picture sequences. The two-dimensional aura of monochrome colour spaces became his central field of activity. Here, colour is the only constituent element of the image. All the image levels are generated from the paint. One layer of paint is applied on top of the last. This method yields a magical, deep black, whereby the painting process often takes several months. New image situations emerge continually within this laborious process. The materiality and appearance of the paint is permanently changing. Brushing one track of paint over another, keeping a balance, avoiding major deviations: such experiences in the meditative process are essential to Reinhold Budde. The artist rejects individual painterly expression; he is interested in a homogeneous application of paint and clearly structured picture areas. These works appear self-contained to us, but remain open to the same extent. Their surface is indicative of the working process without disclosing all its secrets. Only when looking at the edge can we surmise all the layers below the surface; hundreds of flashes of colour play here, lighting up mysteriously. In this way the hermetically sealed surface becomes fragmented. (1)
Until 2006 the focus of Budde‘s creative work was on monochromy with its multiple forms. But this concentration did not go along with a belief in any final reasoning behind those aesthetics, by a conviction that he was painting the final picture or taking art history to its culmination. In 2006 a decisive change from his previous work took place. This change was characterized to equal degrees by distance and affinity, interruption and continuation. The development of the work did not emerge in spectacular upward or downward motion or in fully harmonious accord.
What were the reasons behind this new path – had earlier groups of work been exhausted, had the old themes become a restrictive corset that prevented new developments, or was it dissatisfaction with his own work?
Seemingly everyday decisions played a decisive part in this process: how can one live, what should an artist’s studio look like, how is it possible to combine living and working? The practical answer to these questions was the house and living project succinctly named “Box on the Roof” by Reinhold Budde. The OGO building, a former coffee roasting works in Bremen-Hastedt, provided studio space for him and other artists. It was here that he developed a desire to combine his working and living space. In the idea of the “Box on the Roof” the artist clarified his “concept for the extension of space”. Formally speaking, it is a kind of box to live in, which is not integrated as an organic architectural volume into the existing building, but placed on top of it, so being clearly distinct from the surroundings, which led to some irritation among the other residents. (2) The essential parameters of his artistic development to that date were transformed into a personal architectural language. Reduction of form, concentration on black, contemplation, an intertwining of painting and sculpture, and use of specific materials are all continued in architectonic elements. On the one hand, the “Box on the Roof” is architecture with a specific function: to combine working and living arrangements. On the other hand, Budde’s concept goes beyond a purely architectonic solution. Here, the themes and questions of his artistic works find a counterpart in architecture. The solutions found may thus be interpreted as a continuation of his art using different means. The box on the roof opens the door to further developments and innovative strategies: a step into three-dimensionality and a step into real space. Intense debate with art history and European and Asian philosophy, conversations with curators, and discussions with predominantly younger colleagues contributed to this change in his work. (3)
Since 2006 Reinhold Budde has chosen Aludibond as a carrier for his paintings. His colour range has been extended to include white, grey, yellow and red. When working with gloss paints on Aludibond not only the front but also the reverse becomes a carrying material. The front is black, the reverse is coloured. These works are drilled with holes on all four sides, and fastened at a slight distance from the wall, so that their coloration is reflected onto the wall in each case. In this way, fluctuations are generated between the volume and the wall. Shifts occur. The colour space that was built up on the canvas previously finds a new place between the carrier and the wall, and creates the effect of a resonating space.
In the case of another group of works – likewise gloss paints on Aludibond – the individual works are in two parts, with the left side being black and the right coloured. The essential aspect here is the proportional relationship between the two halves, as well as the relation of the individual image to the series as a whole. The coloration and arrangement of the industrially painted panels come about intuitively: no strict formulas and schemes are adhered to. Another series comprises six panels in each case; five panels are identical in colour and the sixth has different coloration. Gloss is applied using a brush. When applying the paint by hand a different density develops, the in-depth reflection is more intense than in the industrially painted works. The carrier of this series is a wooden volume with its sides painted using binder paint. The panel in the colour that does not match the others functions as a disturbing element, relativizing the strict serial character but without abandoning the principle of the series. The individual elements of the series retain their independence, yet to the same extent they merge into an abstract whole. On the one hand, each image is understood as the image and demands its own aura; on the other hand, the significance of the individual work is relativized by the other images. However, the minimalist dogma “The whole is it” does not take effect; instead, the whole is more than the sum of its individual parts, which creates an added aesthetic value. These are works that oscillate between painting and object, separating themselves from the two-dimensional plane and confronting the viewer in a very physical way: works that are convincing due to a select imbuing with rhythm and precisely balanced volumes, meaning that they develop a powerful presence in space.
Characteristic of Budde’s painting from 2006 onwards is the incorporation of the carrier’s reverse side, a cautious moving away from the panel picture, an extension of the colour palette. Colours that have been concealed beneath the black, two-dimensional surface become visible; they are brought to the forefront, fleeing their shadow existence, and now exist alongside black with equal validity. For the viewer, perception has become more complex. More importance must be granted to a view of the side, attempted views behind, views between the panel and the wall, or changes in one’s own position. In this way the recipient may embark on a voyage of discovery – and patient viewing is rewarded.
The spatial volumes attached to the wall project into space like a block. Their bulkiness and unaccustomed volumes irritate the viewer. The sides of the volumes are painted with binder paint, while by contrast gloss varnish has been applied to the front. Here, too, Reinhold Budde prefers application by hand. Initially, the volume is perceived from the side alone, and only a frontal viewpoint reveals the paint on the facing side, which thus demands the attention to which it is entitled. The relations of volume, colour and surface are skilfully plumbed. This is a group of works that opens up fresh dimensions, making the step into real space plausible already.
Here, Budde makes use of material from the do-it-yourself store: moulding strips made of aluminium. The works consist of two narrow strips of moulding mounted horizontally on the wall at a slight distance from each other. The upper and front sides are black, while the underside is painted with colour. The process is reversed for the second strip. In this way an optical cavity is created between the two strips, comparable to a sounding body. The specific objects that emerge are neither painting nor sculpture; they can be set in analogy to the context of everyday experience. Reference to social reality is generated through the chosen material and via the use of industrial products. Paint is a modern material used almost everywhere, which reflects the environment and society. These works, therefore, are by no means constructs of a self-contained l’art pour l’art, but relativize the self-sufficiency of minimalist concepts.
Works are also produced which have no further need of a wall’s reassurance but leap audaciously into the surrounding space. Moulding strips are arranged in lines of four, six, or eight, with more as supports between floor and ceiling. This conquest of space is a double one, since the space is occupied both immaterially and materially. In this way, the interventions into space present an invitation to the viewer to enter into dialogue with the work and its surrounding space. The interfaces between painting, sculpture and design are shifted into focus. Reinhold Budde has chosen the line as a design element for this installation because it links one element to the next, so creating spatial expansion, and also progresses one step at a time, so creating temporal sequences.
These works operate at the interface between art and design. Here we have art – there the beautiful object, here the sculpture – there design; these pairs of opposites find a continuous form without completely abandoning their specific respective character. Neither the one nor the other insists on predominance, but it will not accept a complete lack of attention, either. Ambivalences draw attention to themselves: on the one hand, in their visual appearance the works are open to design, appearing to the viewer as beautiful objects. On the other hand, the objects remain autonomous, holding fast to their sculptural qualities. On the one hand the supports function as partitions and carrying elements, on the other hand they are neither usable nor useful. They seem to be simultaneously objects of art and function, whereby this function remains open and mysterious, as the viewer finds himself in a sphere of the indefinable. New levels of perception and meaning thus evolve, reciprocally overlapping and permeating.
“11.41” is the title of Budde’s contribution to the platform “Spring” at the Kunstfrühling in Bremen, 2009. (4) For this, the artist blackened two track beds in the shed of a former goods station. These black areas each measure 11 metres and 41 centimetres in length, and are flush with one another. The first track bed is covered with carbon pellets; the side wall of the second is painted along the same length with bitumen. Painting is extended to form a space- and site-related installation. Budde entered new territory with this intervention. The intervention into the available space is not only a reference to the architecture; it also incorporates the history of the track shed and the goods station; all without blanking out the artist’s painterly roots. At the same time, a further level of meaning can be derived from the title of the work. “11.41” not only specifies the lengths of the blackened areas, it is also a reminder of November 1941. This was the month when, at the former Lloyd Station not far from the track shed, 570 Jewish citizens were transported from Bremen to a ghetto in Minsk. Only six of them survived. This is a work with charged content, yet it avoids pointing a moralising finger or making use of the pathos of political correctness that has long since become part of the mainstream. Subtle reference is made to German history, meaning that different systems of reference come to bear. (5)
Budde’s contribution to the project “Palast der Produktion: Plattform 18:50” in a former wool-combing works in Bremen-Blumenthal is also conceived as an installative intervention. Reinhold Budde used bitumen to blacken eighteen pillars of the storage depot: a simple as well as a powerful gesture. The earlier function of these pillars – to support the ceiling – is thus de-limited in multiple ways. The pillar becomes a carrier of painting, and remains a pillar to the same extent as it is transformed into a sculpture. As a result, a field evolves between painting and sculpture, between two- and three-dimensionality, between immateriality and weight. His spatial interventions are capable of restructuring their surroundings and so contributing to a new experience of space. The apparently firmly delineated positions of surface, body and space develop into a dynamic field. These installative interventions bundle the developmental potentials of his previous work.
Reinhold Budde emerges as a border-crosser between the genres. His works evade any distinct categorical attribution, for he paints pictures, forms objects and creates spatial situations. Painting, sculpture and design are skilfully intertwined: an approach that decisively shapes his work and development. It is a work that has escaped the postulates of exclusivity during the 1960s/70s and become a field of open referential systems without getting lost in “anything goes”. His works have the potential to assert themselves between the poles of avant-garde art on the one hand and the interfaces of contemporary discourse on the other; they reject discourse insofar as it sees art as society’s repair workshop, but they are open to discourse insofar as the intention is a fresh sounding-out of genre borders.
(1) The geometrical, abstract “Black Paintings” by Ad Reinhardt, the handling of pure colour spaces on the picture surface by Barnett Newman, experiments with unusual working materials by Richard Serra all had a decisive influence on Reinhold Budde’s development up to 2006. (2) Cf. Kathrin Hager, „Die Kiste auf dem Dach“, (Projekt „OGO“), 2010 (3) For example a close reading of the works “Dialog über die Moral: Menzius und die Philosophie der Aufklärung”, “Schattenseiten. Über das Böse und das Negative”, “Die stillen Wandlungen” by French philosopher and sinologist Francois Jullien, and in particular in conversation with Wulf Herzogenrath, former director of Bremen’s Kunsthalle. (4) On this, cf. the essay by Dirck Möllmann, curator of Kunstfrühling 2009, in: „Reinhold Budde Projekt 11.41“, Edition Redux 2011, p. 15 ff. (5) The ideal of presenting instructions for action to change social conditions is alien to this work. One cannot attribute such charging of content to the work. Art needs to be politically correct, to study climate change, provide models to explain the world – Reinhold Budde is critical of such expectant attitudes and prescribed features in respect to art.