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Born 1981 in Paide, Estonia
Three components are important in my work: colour, form and the story. I do not try to illustrate a story; rather the story is almost a side-product of the composition of the painting. In my works I combine a classical, formally strict way of painting - a form with which the viewer is familiar from Old Master paintings - together with contemporary imagery, inspired by comics and cartoons. In doing so I aim to “reconcile” classical tradition with contemporary images and to create an up-to-date painting practice.
I try to undermine the viewers' expectations. At first glance the figures in the picture seem familiar; at second glance the setting and plot are often unsettling. This discrepancy between good and bad, funny and horrendous, familiar and strange hopefully activates the viewers' creativity and imagination; they are asked to make up their own stories, to interpret the work in their own way. There is no pre-thought storyline, but only fragments, that each viewer can combine differently.
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 Paul Pretzer, Stecher & Chicken, 2009, 11.3 x 9 inches, Oil on Wood |
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 Paul Pretzer, Symposium (beleidigter Bildhauer), 2009, 20.8 x 14.3 inches, Oil on Wood |
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 Paul Pretzer, Bims & Bums, 2009, 16.3 x 12.4 inches, Oil on Wood |
