Bernd Heinrich  

                                                                          by Imogen Corlette

                                                                          One of the most striking and intriguing elements of the new 

                                                                          landscape work being produced in Australia at the moment

                                                                          in the shift towards treating the canvas as the landscape 

                                                                          rather than using it simply to represent or depict. In this way,

                                                                          the artist is re-cast as ' toiler the earth' as opposed to its renderer.

                                                                          The application of paint, bracken, metal, glazes, found objects

                                                                          etc the two dimensional canvas therefore represents 

                                                                          construction in its own right.

                                                                          In these works, the Australian landscape is reborn, not as a

                                                                          colonial outpost, surveyor's plot, picturesque sign of leisure/work,

                                                                          ownership, but as a conceptual and aesthetic "playground"

                                                                          for the artist's imagination. Bernd is one such artist, whose

                                                                          work are, quintessentially, contemporary Australian landscape,

                                                                          with a look that is simultaneously haunted, scarred, entrancing,

                                                                          lucid and resonating.

                                                                          The conceptual base of Bernd's work is highly esoteric. 

                                                                          The sense of secrecy in the images is strong, with the landscape

                                                                          abstracted to the point where depth, focus and form are almost,

                                                                          obscured - and where the earth appears to harbor secrets and

                                                                          symbols which point outwards to realms beyond the canvas.

                                                                          This ghostly aesthetic has undertones of Fred Williams and

                                                                          Arthur Boyd whose work has also featured an unsettling sense

                                                                          of the mysterious in Australian landscape and outback.

                                                                          Bernd's gestural process of constructing the images also bears

                                                                          a somewhat tortured likeness to the more abstract works of

                                                                          Brett Whiteley.

                                                                          Bernd's works are both highly physical (in the complex and

                                                                          rigorous nature of their construction) and highly esoteric.

                                                                          The result is a body of work which makes a well grounded and

                                                                          stimulating contribution to both "Australian Landscape" as an

                                                                          art historical genre, and to "Contemporary Landscape"

                                                                          as a vital element of current international artistic practice.

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                                                                           ARTIST STATEMENT

                                                                          My paintings are “Playgrounds – Landscapes,"

                                                                          an inner experience of freedom and passion not restricted by 

                                                                          conventions or boundaries.

                                                                          In my journey as an artist I am inspired to create from the

                                                                          inside out to express my fascination and passion in combining 

                                                                          my inner world with reality. 

                                                                         “Playgrounds in time and space” are my re-occurring themes.

                                                                          Divided and separated by space, lines, images, symbols, forms      

                                                                          and shapes – composed like a sheet of music in the harmony

                                                                          of a visual symphony – to reveal my inner world.

                                                                          My canvases are often heavily textured, deeply scarred and 

                                                                          evoke the feeling of being sculptured.

                                                                          Often I use found objects, architectural symbols,

                                                                          silkscreen images or find it necessary to include written

                                                                          statements or pieces of poetry to underline or human presence.