Heidi Thompson
Land scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
Design Zürich , you nurtured your education in the field of Painting studying at the Academy of Art in Nürnberg and at the Hungarian State University of Art : how do these experiences influence the way you currently conceive and produce your works ? And in particular , how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem in general ?
Thank you for asking about my multifaceted training and how Europe developed my particular aesthetic sensibility .
I moved to Europe after graduating high school in 1974 with the intention of learning a trade . I wanted to be a pastry chef . This idea quickly vanished after being accepted into the University of Art & Design Zürich . During my four years of study , I discovered my passion was painting . However , I majored in photography because it would provide a way to make a living . Studying photography did develop my love for light and dark – the visual language of emotions . This love can still be seen in my paintings today .
After earning my diploma , I moved to Nürnberg . I worked as an apprentice for a fairly well-known artist , Oskar Koller . I learned about the business of art including framing and exhibiting . I then attended the Nürnberg Academy for Fine Art . After one year , I felt that German abstract expressionism and the turmoil in the school was not for me . I moved to Budapest Hungary seeking a more traditional education . The Hungarian academy was so traditional I thought I ’ d travelled back in time . This was marvelous , but at times frightening because of the ominous communist government . During my stay in Budapest , I developed a love for people . The Hungarians were oppressed , yet artistic and passionate . I tried to express universal suffering using themes of people travelling in subways , trains or talking together in cafes . Before I was permitted to leave Hungary my artwork had to be inspected and stamped for approval by the government .
While in Europe my most influential mentor was a 43 year-old Transylvanian artist , Klaus Schmidt . Klaus was the son of a SS officer who ran away from home after his father threatened to have him shot . Now that was dark Europe ! Klaus was accepted into the Austrian Art Academy and studied under the Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka ( the guy who received the famous art scholarship that Hitler unfortunately didn ’ t get ).
Klaus had a sensitive but tortured soul . He told me that that life and art are one . “ If you want to be a great painter , you have to live life deeply and embrace suffering - not only your personal suffering but the pain of others .” His paintings were raw , passionate , semi-abstract portraits . His technique used shifting , slashing forms similar to the artist Francis Bacon .
Klaus taught me that great painters “ Throw the paint onto the canvas with emotion , passion and pain until Truth reveals itself .” He told me , “ Study the masters like Goya , Velasquez and Rembrandt . Study their brushwork . See how every dab of paint is executed with energy and intention . See