Subtle tension of fleeting change

Manfred Leistner's multi-layered works combine elements of classical painting, photography and digital design and merge them into their own pictorial language. The digital paintings oscillate between abstraction and representation, playing with overlays and omissions, suggesting thoughts and leaving space. They consciously avoid any exclamation marks, do not commit themselves to a message, but rather invite the viewer to follow their own flow of associations, to read the images as a visual composition or to discover familiar forms - depending on the twists and turns of this flow.

If you embark on this journey, you will probably discover two recurring themes: change and fragility. The image surfaces often appear to be marked by erosion, as if they had not been digitally processed but shaped by time. Some things remain vague, structures emerge and dissolve again, objects seem tangible but elude clear definition, appearing to be in a state of transition, change as a constant. This ambiguity gives rise to a subtle tension that determines the lively character of the works.

The artist, who was born in 1951 in Halle/Saale and now lives in Pohlheim, consciously creates works that elude quick categorisation and refuse clear attribution. Instead, they invite us to engage with them and demand an open-minded encounter. They are images that not only want to be seen, but also to be discovered, explored and interpreted. In times of loud messages and simple truths, dominated by striking images and simplistic phrases, this is almost a revolutionary attitude, but in any case, it is the noblest task of art.

More about the artist: Manfred Leistner's artist page