Barbara Heier-Rainer: I am one with my artworks

For me, in-depth experience is necessary to understand things. A work of art is unique if it is authentic, if the artists understand their craft and if it achieves its effect on the viewer – states artist Barbara Heier-Rainer, with whom we talk about her paintings from the series “Bei Hämpels an der Wand” and about the dialogue between the viewer and the artwork.

Dagmara Nawratek: On your website heierkunst.de visitors can read: “Her art is an intellectual game, without losing touch with reality or adopting an arrogant attitude toward the viewer”. Can you tell us more about this intellectual game you play with the viewer?

Barbara Heier-Rainer: This statement does not apply to all of my work groups. It specifically refers to the work group featuring deer, which I exhibited under the title “Bei Hämpels an der Wand” and for which I chose the roaring deer as a symbol of German bourgeoisie. I also wanted to counter the kitsch image in the bourgeois living room. In the end, however, this series also became more ambiguous.

You have created various adaptations of this theme. Did you also draw on other references?

The deer head is the sum of all the images of deer in my memory. The deer image is also influenced by the legend of St. Hubertus, my brother bears this name. In the various adaptations of the theme, I have tended to deal with a cliché for which I have developed a stereotype.

In these paintings, you also refer to manufacturing. However, the repeated silhouettes of deer heads contain a completely different filling in the form of various artworks, which is why each of them is characterized by authenticity, originality and uniqueness. Where did the idea of combining these two different concepts in one work of art came from?

Experimentation, joy and the urge to develop ideas further to see what comes out of it.

What makes a work of art unique in the eyes of the beholder? Can the viewer, as the recipient of a work of art, expect that his gaze will be reciprocated by the artwork?

In any case, the artwork should return the gaze. For me, that is a sign of quality. If there is no dialog between the viewer and the work, it is pure decoration. Unfortunately, it is also a fact that, as an artist, I do not achieve this interaction with all viewers, which has to do with the personality of the viewer.

How do you perceive the interactions with viewers in your hometown of Kelkheim?

I am still very active and regularly hold exhibitions at my art club. There, dialogue between visitors and myself leads to an interaction that is part of my work. Only then is my work complete.

Interviewed by: Dagmara Nawratek, www.masterclassmagazine.com, pr@masterclassmagazine.com

Answered by: Barbara Heier-Rainer, www.heierkunst.de, heier-rainer@t-online.de