HARALD REINER GRATZ - EPOS

Our visual memory is - more than ever before - determined by artificial pictures. They put themselves over reality and disguise it. From how many films do we know Jesus Christ? Had there really been a race course in Jerusalem or is it just a pack of lies made for "Ben Hur"? Has Salomé been dark-haired or blond?

 

Harald Reiner Gratz - full-blood-painter and sophisticated cineaste - is answering reflections of that kind with a volt as bold as creative. He reconstructs the historically verified and likewise the fictitious personal by himself. He recruits his actors from phantasy, media and from the circle of his friends. Salomé may be stout or slim, in any case she may have all kinds of haircolour. Nero looks like Silvio Berlusconi as a young man and the Colosseum - once venue for public slaughter and a disgrace from human cruelty - looks like a substantial pastry.

 

Historical figures appear in various poses at Harald Gratz' art - doubting, pondering, domineering, anxious or clumsy - but rarely gracefully or with grandeur. They remain as human beings, more chased than formative.

Harald Rainer Gratz' paintings are opulent and spontaneous. His wasteful use of valuable pigments is obviously satisfying him. His characteristic style is referring to the expressionists as well as to younger masters. Single parts appear like art historically quotations, they remind of Greco, Velázquez and the old Tizian.