Christopher Lehmpfuhl – Berliner Freiluft
It can be a privilege to breathe freely, and at the present time this is even truer than ever. For the Berlin artist Christopher Lehmpfuhl, the air outdoors plays a large role in his inspiration. For his next exhibition, "Berliner Freiluft", the artist was drawn to the Beelitz-Heilstätten - a former sanatorium for the treatment of lung diseases just outside Berlin. His new oil and watercolour paintings will be exhibited there for the first time before then moving to Galerie Kornfeld in Berlin-Charlottenburg.
The Beelitz-Heilstätten were opened in 1902 as a place for curing and recovering from lung diseases. After a varied past, large parts of the grounds and buildings are now in a desolate condition. Recently however, a reawakening with a change in use, has been taking place. Christopher Lehmpfuhl's works, which explicitly confront the abandoned buildings of the sanatorium, are thus a form of artistic coming to terms with the present that also refers to historical continuities.
The choice of subject harks back in a double sense, not only to the former use and history of the place, but also a reference to the past manifests itself in the artistic process of the plein air painter. In the sensuality and physical experience of the impasto colour reliefs, which Christopher Lehmpfuhl creates with his own hands, the close relationship to the concepts of early Modernism, Romanticism and Impressionism becomes clear. Thus, Lehmpfuhl's paintings represent a reaction to the restrictions of life's realities in pandemic times, and show themselves again and again to be both contemporary and timeless. The process of painting thereby becomes a performative act that fulfils the growing desire for physical experience, for the aesthetic adventure outside the digital sphere.
The sensual approach to painting is typical of the artist. Like the Impressionists more than a century ago, he brings his colours and canvases to his subjects. Fully aware of the historicity of what he is doing, Christopher Lehmpfuhl ventures outdoors, exposes himself to the elements, but also to the reactions of passers-by, or the sounds and smells of his environment. He observes, senses, listens and smells, and then reaches for the paint, which he layers on with his hands to create impasto colour reliefs.
Christopher Lehmpfuhl's physical and emotional impressions find their immediate expression in works that are depictions, but also the pure painting of almost abstract coloured forms on canvas. Thereby, the subjective act of painting arises from an inner necessity. Playfully and sincerely at the same time, the artist explores the idea that his creative powers are stimulated by the immediate sensory perception of his environment.
His fascination with the elements of the environment shaped by humankind, with the uniqueness of the way light falls and weather conditions make Christopher Lehmpfuhl not just the cartographer of his own biography, but also a chronicler of our world in the 21st century. His interest in the transience of the moment connects the images of his hometown with the works of the Beelitz-Heilstätten, both documenting a statusquo that is disappearing due to the continuous transformation of urbanscapes and streets.
Christopher Lehmpfuhl, a master student of Klaus Fußmann at the Berlin University of Arts, has received numerous awards, including a scholarship from the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, and the GASAG Art Prize Berlin. His works are displayed at exhibitions in institutions, museums and galleries, both in Germany and abroad. After being honoured with a solo exhibition by the Museum Würth in Künzelsau in 2020/21, the Museo Würth La Rioja in Spain and the Museum for Art and Cultural History Schloss Gottorf, Landesmuseum Schleswig-Holstein are currently showing comprehensive solo exhibitions of the artist's work.
