Leaflet for the exhibition: There are possibilities so true and untrue

The blank page – infinite possibilities – everything begins with a gesture, an action, overcoming, expressing, letting go, starting. A stroke – a stroke – many strokes – quick, short, expressive, flowing, fragmented, jagged, which condense into forms from which structures emerge. They populate the sheet, but before it can become too detailed, Lars Rosenbohm pauses and reaches for the next sheet – another possibility. What does he show us, what is hidden? The series “There are possibilities so true and untrue”, which can be seen in a loop in the lecture hall, was created over a period of weeks in 2022. One or more charcoal drawings are created every day. The goal: 500 works. Rosenbohm is a seeker – or do the forms find him? His works oscillate between figuration and dissolution, between clarity and enigma. Heads, eyes, mouths, organic structures and physical fragments meet in a game of presence and concealment. Billowing hair, pulsating veins, internal organs, cells and amoeba-like creatures interweave with tentacles, bacteria, plants and clouds. Powerfully to the point and at the same time infused with fragile delicacy.

The line plays a central role as a creative element: Rosenbohm transfers its dynamism and powerful expression into his large-format paintings. This is where the mysterious motifs from the charcoal drawings finally come together, growing out of the surface in moving lines. The canvases, some of which are primed in color on the back, leave traces on the front, which serve Rosenbohm as a starting point for his creative process. He begins to work intuitively, pouring paint onto the canvas, working with black ink and repeatedly layering thin layers of paint on top of each other. The states remain visible. Large, curved painterly gestures spread out pulsatingly on the canvas. Always dominated or framed by deep black. Here, too, the forms are reminiscent of internal body structures such as intestines, veins or cells and at the same time bring to mind living creatures or microorganisms from water. Rosenbohm creates physicality of any identity. Figures appear, disappear in overpaintings and merge with abstract elements. Scraps of thought that appear and disappear again. The boundaries between figuration and abstraction are fluid. We are allowed to participate in this intimate moment of the searching and creative artist. He provides insight and enigmas at the same time. His gaze alternates between the outside – the body – the shell – the concealment and the view into the inside – the organic – the depth – beneath the surface. In overpaintings, fragmentations and additions, his motifs merge into a complex visual language that combines opposites, brings the uncertain and ambivalent to the fore, opens up further possibilities and invites an individual approach.

Rosenbohm often integrates depictions of heads and faces in his works. These elements appear fragmented or mask-like and are characterized by bold brushstrokes and overpainting. Two works entitled “Portrait” and “Memory (one’s own or fantasized)” from 2023 also show heads, but his typical vocabulary, such as staring eyes, open and spouting mouths or tongues, disappears in this new work phase. The heads are characterized by a longer, more controlled painting process. The picture is created layer by layer. As he builds up the layers, he simultaneously exposes the interior. Expressive distortions – bulging forms and octopus-like shapes seem to have colonized and infested the heads. Like a feverish dream or a gaping wound or scar, we look into the depths of the painting.

In a further series from 2024, we once again encounter the characteristic head shapes. Rosenbohm primes the canvases from the back and works intuitively with the translucent forms and colors. The bold, dynamic stroke also dominates here. Earlier states and the painting process remain visible. The small-format works show heads in front of intensely colored backgrounds, with the shoulders at the lower edge only hinted at. But the faces remain hidden: teardrop-shaped hair structures, dashed fur or veiling elements cover the heads and remove their individuality. In front of them, patches or areas of deep black spread out, overlaying the heads like shadows and partially obscuring them. Are they shadows that fall on the bodies from the outside, or do they spread out threateningly from within? In this series of works, too, the artistic path leads into inwardness: a contemplative examination of a subliminal, disturbing atmosphere between curiosity and latent threat.

In another series of works, the connection between the flowing forms of biological lifeworlds and human head shapes becomes clear. In “Fluchttier 1-3” (2024), glowing, human-looking eyes peer out of the dark depths of the paper – curious, good-natured and at the same time watchful. They are surrounded by softly blurred pastel chalk lines that lose themselves in organic structures. The human element seems to be inscribed in the water creatures, as if the two merge into one. The fleeting, partly blurred lines suggest an inner restlessness that oscillates between defense and retreat from the unknown, but at the same time they reveal a curiosity and openness in the luminosity of the eyes.

Through the experience of the corona pandemic and against the backdrop of global uncertainties, Rosenbohm explores the human condition in his haunting, sometimes disturbing depictions – characterized by experienced and remembered experiences that fluctuate between dream, ecstasy, fear and fragility.

In fragmented and mask-like depictions that expose the process of creation in layers, he questions the uncertainties, ambivalences and possibilities of human existence. In doing so, he poses questions about identity, perception and the tension between inside and outside. A subtle threat, uncertainty and anxiety accompany this examination.
The mixture of different life forms in his works addresses the complexity of human existence and the question of a deeply rooted connection between human and nature: Who are we? Who or what are we connected to? What remains hidden?
Rosenbohm’s experimental, process-based approach thrives on searching, observing, discarding and revising. His artistic attitude is reflected in the recurring ambivalence between figuration and abstraction, between presence and invisibility: art does not have to be unambiguous. It can reveal possibilities – true and untrue at the same time.

Lars Rosenbohm (*1971 in Lemgo) lives and works in Bielefeld. His studio is located in the artists’ house Artists Unlimited. Rosenbohm’s works have been exhibited at the Museum Marta Herford, the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, the Kunsthaus Essen, the Museum Schloss Moyland, the Saarland Museum, the Westfälischer Kunstverein, the Kunstvereine in Bielefeld, Oerlinghausen, Lippstadt, Ludwigshafen, Gütersloh and Lemgo, among others. Also in galleries and project spaces in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Biel/Bienne, Austin, Barcelona, Ghent, Kassel, Wuppertal and Osnabrück. Lars Rosenbohm’s works are represented in the collections of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld, the Marta Herford and the Hanseatic City of Lünen. He has received grants from the Kunststiftung NRW, the Aldegrever Gesellschaft Münster, the Landesverband Westfalen-Lippe, the Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft NRW and the Stiftung Kulturwerk, Bonn. In 2023, Rosenbohm was awarded the CityARTists Art Prize NRW as a representative of the city of Bielefeld. He has been nominated for other art prizes, such as the Belgian IKOB Art Prize and the Gütersloh Woldemar Winkler Art Foundation Prize.