Heidi Bochnig

Heidi Bochnig was born in Hamburg and studied print design in the 1960s at the textile engineering school in Krefeld, where her tasks included creating and drawing patterns. Design and compositional elements such as repetition, colour layering, or freehand drawing are also found in her watercolours, which can now be viewed in our exhibition.

Regarding the process of creating these watercolours, Heidi Bochnig applies a first layer of extremely diluted watercolour onto most of the paper's surface. After the first layer has dried, a second coating that is a few centimetres smaller follows, then the third, etc., until the paint in the centre of the sheet reaches its final degree of saturation. Every step requires time, concentration, and experience—and remains observable. The almost meditative character of these watercolours stems from the profound calm and concentration that infused their creation.

Heidi Bochnig paints on firm laid paper, typically used for intaglio printing. This unique paper allows the colour to achieve materiality with a matt and velvety texture, creating a sense of depth and haptic density—the impression of three-dimensionality results from the densification and increasing intensity of "swelling" colour layers.

Despite the abstract nature of these monochrome works, Heidi Bochnig's use of colour frequently evokes concrete associations. While a radiant yellow may represent light or the sun, terracotta colours bring tree bark or desert-like landscapes to mind, and blue may indicate all things immaterial, like air and space.

—Adina Bayer, translated by Katerine Niedinger