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"Yam and Stones" oil on panel - copyright 2000 Marlies Ihmels-Herget

 

“The Hybrid Series”

by Marlies Ihmels-Herget

 

    Painting is an ancient skill through which we can express meaning and convey cultural influences on time. Like the hunters, who gave meaning to a prosperous future through the depiction of their ritualized hunts, we today have the need to connect and express our deepest yearnings for a better future. My paintings function as windows through which the viewer is transported into a different world where past, present and future merge to create an alternate reality. Objects found in reality and rendered in the traditional painting techniques of the masters, combine to create a symbolic vision of a world where everything is alive.

    The “Hybrid” body of work, which began to emerge in the fall of 1997, started with a painting called “Creative Energy” (see image on left). The first painting was a small representation of a sprouting potato. I had been fascinated by energy fields and conducted some studies. I noticed that the life force within a potato can be dormant and then all of the sudden, when the conditions for life are right, the potato will start to form new structural sprouts unlike, but similar to structural shapes formed by other potatoes. These right conditions are not only dependent on the environment; they are subject to the movement of time.

    During my observations I was surprised to realize a manifestation of individuality in my subject of attention and notions of what we would consider idiosyncratic behavior. I never expected to find what we believe to be exclusively human or animal character traits among plants, especially not in a little potato. Suddenly I experienced my subject as equal, with energy radiating in all directions and coming alive in front of my eyes. Combining two or more subjects in the composition created even more movement and energy. In some cases whole dialogues emerged among my subjects, creating unexpected narratives.

 

"Four Abate Pears" oil on panel 2002

 

     I became engaged in a very interesting project, seeing new connections among animate and inanimate forms. Slowly new ideas for paintings emerged creating a body of work which is alive with life and imbuing its subjects with anthropomorphic qualities. All subjects were taken from absolute reality and combined with the energy of inspiration which sprang from this deep level of being where the life force originates.

     As this body of work (28 paintings) emerged, I kept asking myself, why is this happening? Why am I painting these images? The question of how the implicate order (invisible connections or metaphysical world) and explicate order (physical reality) manifests in the universe had always been an interesting subject for me to read, talk and philosophize about. On the one hand there was this endless creative, invisible force I seemed to have tapped into and on the other hand I noticed our culture with its materialistic consumption and superficial behavior. Our modern ways of looking at life seem to have a great impact on the environment and all living creatures. We are becoming increasingly more unaware of these subtle forces and our innate capabilities as holistic functioning beings. 

     These anthropomorphic paintings are speaking of this deep connection we have as humans with everything that surrounds us. These paintings symbolize the powerful life force residing within every person, reminding us of our enormous potential as idiosyncratic creators.    

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