An Interview With Hans Vinzenz Seidl

Born in Freudenstadt in 1988, Hans Vinzenz Seidl, studied painting and graphics at the Karlsruhe State Academy of Fine Arts. Hans is an artist known for his ‘Glass’ paintings which he creates by applying Ferrofluid to the glass and proceeding to move the medium around the surface with a magnet. This approach creates an endless number of reflections and colour combinations as the work is viewed from different angles with different lighting meaning that the work will forever change and be viewed differently by each individual.

Can you tell us a little bit about you?

I live in Cologne, work as a freelance painter, love art, my beautiful studio, club culture, nature, chess, sports and basically everything that feels good and is fun to keep the playful inner child. I would describe myself as a hedonist.

What is your artistic process and how has it evolved since you began painting?

At the beginning of my art studies, I mainly painted and drew naturalistically. At that time, I worked quite classically, figuratively and representationally on paper and canvas. At some point, however, I detached myself from figuration, and what remained was my broad colour palette and abstracted remnants of my figurative and representational pictorial elements, which still appear in my work today in a greatly reduced form.

Where did the inspiration behind your Glass Paintings come from and what role does the medium play in your work?

About 12 years ago, I first discovered the painting medium ferrofluid for myself. It is a magnetic oil that I apply to the glass and set in motion with a strong magnet. I move the magnet under the glass, causing the fluid to form unique weave and grid-like structures of fine lines.

Gradually, I have started to combine the ferrofluid with other painting media such as ink, varnish and resin.

Glass, as a painting surface, offers me some advantages but also disadvantages. Painting behind glass is not as forgiving as, for example, canvas or paper, because you only have a few attempts. It is not possible to paint over individual areas, as the painting is layered behind the glass, which means that the individual work steps must always be on point. In addition, one must always bear in mind that it has to be thought and painted in mirror image and that the highlights are already set at the beginning and not at the end.

Depending on the time of day or the type of artificial lighting, the reflection on the glass makes the surrounding space and, depending on the angle of view, the viewer himself appear in the works. This fact makes this painting surface so fascinating for me. Thus the works, especially when additional layers of paint are applied to the outside of the glass, always appear differently and naturally take up the space in which they are located as well as the incidence of light and invite a constant change of the viewer's point of view. In this way, a static object on the wall can contribute to the fact that one moves oneself in the room in order to let various pictorial elements appear or disappear again before one's own eye.

You are an artist who enjoys spontaneity and experimentation but how do you know when a work is complete?

I use controlled coincidences for my works and experiment in a playful way, often allowing myself to be surprised by the combinations of different painting media and their interplay.

I deliberately limit myself by my choice of materials, so that I have only a few attempts and a short time frame during the drying process to react. Naturally, there is no overpainting and no constant thinking about when a work is finished, as one could always readjust it. This gives the works, at least my intention when painting, a certain directness or a kind of "forced painterly one take" that aims for a loose and completely natural effect.

Is there one piece or project you are especially proud of?

"No darlings left" (below) is one of my key paintings. Here I have added additional painterly elements on the outside of the glass, which opens up another level of experience.

Your earliest memory of art?

When I was about five years old, I painted a horse. My relatives were so enthusiastic about it that I will never forget it. I grew up with art because my father was also an artist and art teacher. As a result, I had access to a studio and all kinds of painting materials even as a small child. I also remember, very well, exhibition openings of my father and his friends, as well as visits to impressive churches in France during family holidays

Who or what is your biggest artistic inspiration?

There are many very different things that inspire me. Partly very consciously, but also unconsciously, so that I often only notice afterwards what led me to one or another formal decision. On the one hand, it's the various artistic positions of colleagues, museums and galleries that I look at during regular visits to exhibitions. On the other hand, it's also everyday experiences, memories of the past, states of trance, natural phenomena, melancholy and daydreams. It is difficult to say what is actually the greatest artistic inspiration for me, since we are constantly flooded with images. I think it is a mixture of which, with my personal selective perception, I manifest my view of the zeitgeist in the form of painting.

Are there any particular artists that you are currently enjoying?

I recently went to a fantastic solo exhibition by Conny Maier that really blew my mind. I love artists like Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, Karl Otto Götz, Bernhard Schulze, David Hockney and Sigmar Polke and many more. I am also very impressed by younger artistic positions such as Jenny Brosinski, Jan Ole Schiemann and Fabian Treiber.

What is your favourite book or film and why?

One of my favourite books is the Chess Novella by Stefan Zweig. What fascinates me about the book is how the game of chess, which I love very much and have played since I was a child, can be very enriching and inspiring on the one hand, but can also lead to an escape from reality.

Are you working on any projects you are particularly excited about?

I am currently working in the studio on many new reverse glass paintings in a slightly different, more geometric style, which I am very much looking forward to completing! On a side note, I am also training for the World Chess Boxing Championship, which I will be competing in Rimini at the end of October. This crazy sport was invented by the artist Iepe Rubingh and is for me an absolutely unique mixture of mental and physical competition.

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