Detlef Waschkau

The City as a Stage

The painter and sculptor Detlef Waschkau has devoted himself to the traditional genre of the painted street scene in a way that is both thoroughly convincing and astonishingly contemporary. He translates the familiar theme of urban life into the pictorial idiom of the twenty-first century and offers the viewer a vigorous image corresponding to the permanent transformation that coexists with the increasing uniformity of the world’s metropolises.

During his travels through Europe and Japan, he becomes a storyteller who, with a particular love of details, constructs urban living environments out of diverse motifs. Waschkau’s work takes the form of a “live streaming” that thrives on the artist’s energetic mixing of short sequences within the individual layers of the images; its protagonists emanate a sense of individual dynamism and unrestricted mobility. In Waschkau’s work, the city mutates into a stage for a young generation, which glides weightlessly through the surrounding architecture and topography and is provided with contemporary accessories and permanent access to the flow of electronic information from mobile phones and iPods.

Elke von der Lieth Kommunale Galerie, Berlin - Catalog Citys and People

What is it about your studio space that inspires you?

For me my studio is the place to transform my Ideas into art. The inspiration for my work, however, I get by traveling and experiencing cities and people. Furthermore, the process of developing a piece of art is also very inspiring to me.

What is your favourite material to work with? How has your use of it evolved throughout your practice?

Nowadays my favorite material is the wood of the poplar tree. Because it is a soft wood and good to work with. In the early stages of my work I used different materials like for example plaster, wax, paint or metal. However, while I studied, I figured out that wood, combined with paint, would be the best material to express my ideas.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?

If I should pick one of my own works, I would choose a piece of art I will make in ten years, because I think an artist`s work should develop. Otherwise I would gladly accept a Vermeer.

If you weren´t an artist, what would you be doing?

I don´t know what I`d be doing, but right now I think astrophysics are very fascinating, especially considering the new developments and discoveries that are being made in this area of science at the moment.