The Surrealism of reality

...and finally, in the world of my painting on the way to combining the virtuosity of experience and curiosity, I thought I was safe. But the fateful blow of the flood hit my studio in Gemünd in July 2021.
Everything I had ever created, etchings and engravings from my early, successful years, lithographs in small editions, large silhouettes like packaged stage sets, was swept away by the flood along with thousands of paintings and watercolours; my entire life's work. Nothing remained, all evidence of my painterly realisations had been diluted and floated away, the retrospective of my artistic work had been swallowed up by the primeval lake.
When I decided to start all over again and paint my own art history, I had no idea that the seemingly lost insights and experiences would form a very special kind of wealth. Having nothing more to lose seemed to send me to the easel almost liberated. I suddenly realised what I was actually painting:
I have become a surrealist of reality. Almost without my intervention, shapes and colours begin to wrestle with each other, constantly drawing boundaries and overcoming them again to show the complete, absurd, unreal reality that surrounds me. As a painter, I paint what I see, and I see things around me that cannot be: Reason that is completely unreasonable, situations that seem completely absurd, I bear witness to my unreality.
I do not indulge in dreams or desire, but my brush has now become a foil. It fights, even if a smirk, perhaps even a smile may appear behind it. My work positions itself quickly and decisively, boldly and resolutely. It asks questions and communicates, shares and captures the soul again. Perhaps I have washed my brushes with tears, perhaps that is why they are so pure. They glide like ice skates over the frozen lakes of my tears, and yet they always pursue their goal.
In the end, I always breathe a sigh of relief that I have immersed the reality of my time in fantasy and visualised the surreality of everyday life and the madness of the world.
That is my hope.
Maf Räderscheidt