The work presented in ALL ONE was created in a forest in the north of Leipzig from April to August 2019. Günther takes an ecological approach to nature in art which creates a deeper relationship with the forest, demonstrated through her use egg-tempera colours with natural pigments, which Günther makes herself, to use in her work.
Collaborating with the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, gave Günther the opportunity to store the tools and the finished paintings in the house of the Institute in the forest, allowing the works to become interrupted and changed by the weather and to use the forest as a base to continue to work on the paintings.
Günther works directly and immediately; her practice is concerned with process and what happens intuitively and spontaneously when making, constantly unveiling what is hidden. She is interested in the threshold between subconscious and reality. The image is counterpart, a gateway to the unspeakable, to abstraction. There is no need for a thematic pretext where she is concerned. She believes in the intelligence of the hand over the intelligence of the head.
Mysticism, alchemy, archaism, abstraction and the dynamics of painting shaped Günther’s education during her studies at the Burg Giebichenstein Art Academy under Professor Ulrich Reimkasten. Many experiments led her from object to abstraction, archaic and shamanistic cultures, and an understanding of how trance and ecstasy can be a vehicle to travel into the subconscious, the realm of dreams. „The two worlds of dream and reality are of equal value, and as they merge into one another they are a means of power and important powerful journeys, asking questions and seeking answers.“ (Mylasher)
Günther’s practice is realised through many disciplines including painting, ceramics, curation, performance and installation. She was a member of the artist collective Gallery Fist and has been consistently showing and curating exhibitions throughout Europe since 2004.
‘I've always worked outdoors.
But I had the dream of working in the forest for a long time.
I saw myself, painted my face and at the river, under the canopy of leaves, a simple hut.
It was not quite like that. The year 2019 stood under the star of sad goodbyes, disappointments, big injuries. Maybe that is why I had to go to the forest.
I was looking for what was inside me outside in the forest.
It was a spring, summer and autumn when the forest was the only place where I was safe. I could sink into the forest floor, become humus, learn humility.
I laid aside all the fear I used to have and was in an organism that took care of me, that was so beautiful and protective.
First, I had to find places and wandered for a long time.
When I had found a place, I spread the canvas on the floor and painted on the floor.
To look at it I sometimes stretched a clothesline. I made the colours from egg tempera with natural pigments, so that I could also rinse the brushes in the river.
So, time passed. I left the pictures in the rain, even during thunderstorms.
The paint was washed off, leaves fell on them, insects ran over them.
Each picture captured the forest within itself. Some were out for a month or two, some for months at a time.
In the end, it became a series of 12 paintings, like an album, they all belong together.’
.jpg)
-13.jpg)
