Location: Germany
Born in Daun in the Eifel in 1974 and discovered as an artist as a teenager, Hella Ridder received individual support early on and was accompanied in her personal development until around 2001 by the German artist H. Roetter.
The artist turned to abstract painting as an emotionally and intuitively guided means of expression as early as this first creative period.
On the solid foundation of artistic training, an individual style and characteristic style quickly developed, which are based on the continuous development of new forms of expression and experiences with the aim of constantly changing artistic creation in abstraction. The observation of nature as well as the observation of human emotionality as a source of inspiration remain constant companions.
The artist, whose works are presented both internationally and nationally and are in demand by art collectors, now lives at Lohe Castle in Werl, Germany.
“Landscape and Light”
Landscape and light – two states and places full of power and poetry that can reveal our innermost being.
Every light immerses the landscape in front of my eyes in a constantly new magical moment... I pause, discover, sense - until nature itself grants me entry into my unconscious in this unique interaction...
I recognize my potential, feel my inner strength with the intensity of the sunlight on my skin, find myself and redesign...
My series “Landscape and Light” invites you as a viewer into the magic of this moment.
Landscape and light – two states and places full of power and poetry that are able to unlock my innermost being.
For me, nowhere can the forces of nature be felt more sensually, movingly and beautifully than in the dynamics and uniqueness of the waterfall. The power and energy born from this powerful play of water and light touch me deeply and directly, because dynamism, power and calm are rarely so balanced and interwoven in a single natural spectacle. In this contemplation I find myself and at the same time I decipher my unconscious, hidden powers... I let myself get involved, become one with my intuition and my potential flows freed back into my reality...
The autumn wind mixes with rain in the first winter mist... a stormy autumn day that fills me with all its strength inside, a mixture of transience, rising wildness, the scent of damp autumn leaves, the promise of winter and contemplation and yet filled with unbridled life that burns itself into every fiber of my being and carries me along and makes me feel: Yes, I am here - I am living this moment with every fiber of my being and carrying this through the promisingly approaching winter of meditation into a next, new spring. .. The autumnal sadness that I feel inside is filled with the irrepressible power of life within myself.
The work of art itself fascinates with the virtuoso transitions between flowing gray, yellow, white and brown tones paired with a skillfully applied style that gives the painting an impressive dynamic.
I always pay special attention to the diverse details of the work of art, work in different, mostly wet layers of paint, and consciously combine brush and Spartet techniques.
I always use acrylic paints with high color intensity and durability. A matte varnish preserves the beauty of the painting on the canvas.
The artwork, painted on a 3D-stretch frame is additional fitted with a white shadow gap frame and a high-quality suspension on the frames back
Perhaps it was precisely the experiences from the first years of the corona pandemic that directed the focus of inspiration in my creativity to the emotional inner view instead of the inspiration from the landscape observations as the “outside”...
This “being thrown back on oneself” and the experience of my unfiltered emotionality, which I try to channel and deepen and understand in my artworks, accompanies the pictures in this series.
This experience is accentuated and almost mirrored as an inner view by the occasional encounter with other people as an almost alien-seeming communication counterpart in the pandemic loneliness of these years.
Sometimes it seemed to me as if, despite the mask, the other person was reduced to their actual, unadorned being as if in a burning glass, as if the pandemic had exposed our true personality under the layers of socialization and civilization and revealed the real person.
These encounters were similarly formative for this time and subsequently the ongoing question of self-definition and the search for intrinsic sources of strength that give me the strength from my personality for the next step, the next day.
For me, this time of the pandemic thus becomes a symbol for people in their struggle for psycho-emotional clarity and inner and outer freedom.
Out of the uncertainty, the question, the darkness within me, a moment of meditation arises with each work, a haven of peace that opens up my source of strength for rebirth in this unique moment of awakening.
In this awakening, I feel an irrepressible joy in life in its uniqueness, beauty, sensuality, strength and creative stillness, which arise from the darkness and night, day and light of my inner self.
With my works of art, I would like to invite you as a viewer to immerse yourself in this magical moment of creative stillness, to feel your intuition and to bring it into the “now” as a creative force.
The emotionality of the moment connects the pictures in this series. In becoming aware, I unlock my potential, find my inner strength, discover myself and create anew...
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
The artwork “Abstract Art Addicted” is a homage to experimental-abstract painting, paying homage to the joy of life and the happiness that lies in an emotionally exuberant moment, in love with oneself and innocently and pleasurably wasted... the intensity of the moment, in which I unconditionally immerse myself without intention and develop my creative power from it, fills me with priceless happiness. This artwork is like an invitation to myself to create these magical moments and allow them to happen without intention.
“Waterfall of Light”
“Stormy Autumns Day”
“Abstract Art Addicted”
