Elvira Lantenhammer : Color Siteplan

Elvira Lantenhammer’s paintings are colour events which rely to a considerable extent on intensity of colour. The choice of colour and its application take place intuitively in an examination of the effects of colours and their interaction with regard to a specific location. The term Site Plan, under which the abstract works are subsumed, serves here as an open action grid which conquers new spaces for the colours. Colour is the principal actor in Lantenhammer’s pictures –finely tuned or in bold complementary contrasts. The variations in the application of colour in the paintings challenge us to view them with relish. Her oeuvre sometimes reflects forms which particularly characterise a place. Mostly, however, the very colour harmonies and a structure of coloured surfaces are what which make the emotional and energetic qualities of a place or a country tangible. The publication provides a comprehensive overview of the work of the past ten years.

Born in 1956, Elvira Lantenhammer studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich and is now based in Homburg am Main. She is renowned for her use of bold swaths of color—neon hues and dramatic contrasts interact with basic geometric elements to create surprising juxtapositions that vibrate with intensity even as their simplicity of form generates a meditative quality. The choices of color and its application, she explains, come intuitively through an examination of the effects of colors and the ways they would interact with specific locations that she has in mind for her artwork.

Color is the principal actor in Lantenhammer’s pictures—finely tuned or in bold complementary contrasts. Sometimes, her work directly reflects forms that particularly characterize a specific place. Mostly, however, place becomes tangible, if still abstract, through color harmonies and a structure of colored surfaces. This landmark volume offers a comprehensive overview of Lantenhammer’s work from the past ten years, reproduced with exquisitely careful attention to the colors at their heart.