Interview
Ralf Leidinger
Ralf Leidinger was born in 1965 in Neunkirchen/Saar. He has had everal fair appearances with Bodypainting including a solo exhibition at Popstreetshop gallery in Hamburg (2020), an exhibition Annas Art Affair on Helgoland (2020), a solo exhibition in Schleswig (2020). He had a special exhibition at the museum on Helgoland for half a year in 2022, an exhibition at Taschenberg Pallais Dresden (2022), an exhibition at Wallentowski Galerien Werl (2022), an exhibition at Pan Kunstmuseum (2023), an exhibition at Galerie Reuer (2023), among others. He won an Art Walk Prize at Hamburg in 2023. He was also the winner of the Audience Prize from the Pan Art Museum (2023) and he had his first own exhibition in his hometown of Neunkirchen/Saar.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“Already as a child, I was painting. When I moved to Berlin at the age of 20, I discovered airbrushing as an additional enrichment for myself. I got to know many artists in the 10 years I lived in Berlin and decided as a little rebel for myself that I wanted to remain an autodidact. After gaining a foothold in Rhineland-Palatinate, I made a name for myself in my environment as an airbrush artist and wall designer. Little by little, body painting and painting houses and walls were added. In 2015, I devoted myself completely to painting on canvas and after a curator noticed at my first exhibition that I can paint beautifully, but actually has no style of my own. My style "Body Lines" was created, which I now produce in my own studio in Pirmasens with mixed technique on canvas in manual work. I want to prove that it is possible to bring emotions and a sense of space into one picture with just two colours. For me, black and white, good and evil, Yin and Yang, always mean keeping the balance in the picture. As a rebel, I openly give to pleasing an art to make, for me it is not a swearword, but a task, it is important to me to make people happy with my art, without a philosophical background.”
What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?
“The basic message of my work is to stay in balance, if you are balanced within yourself, then the world can also be balanced again at some point. I often hide messages in my pictures and take up current topics in my pictures, which can be seen very well in the work JUSTITIA.”
Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?
“All my pictures are completely planned, I always keep an eye on the anatomy, the number of white and black stripes. If all this is correct, then I trace the lines of my sketch with the brush, later it is important to create the shading very precisely with the airbrush gun, this work allows no mistakes.”
Are there any art world trends you are following?
“I work almost every day in my small studio, so I hardly have time to follow trends, my aim is to start a trend myself.”
What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?
“I use a mixed technique on a very fine canvas. The basic image is applied to the canvas with various brushes and acrylic paint, exactly according to the sketch. After a thorough check, the shapes and shades are sprayed on very thinly layer by layer with the airbrush gun.”
“The basic message of my work is to stay in balance, if you are balanced within yourself, then the world can also be balanced again at some point.”
What does your art mean to you?
“For me, art means passing something on to my fellow human beings, receiving feedback from them, seeing how they embellish their homes with my inspirations and enjoying them for many years to come.”
What’s your favorite artwork and why?
“There are too many, the more important question is which picture readers like best, that's more important to me, with which motif can I make people smile or think.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I will always remember when I met the museum director Jörg Andres at a group exhibition on the island of Helgoland and he was so impressed by my nun with the Afri-Cola bottle. I asked him how one manages to exhibit in a museum and he told me the best way is to know the museum director, I put my arm over his shoulder and said, a start has been made. A year later I got a solo exhibition for six months in the museum on Helgoland and to top it off, the museum also bought a painting from me.”
Website: leidinger-art.com
Instagram: @leidinger_art
