INTERVIEW FOR DEALER DE LUXE NOV 2003

AT AN ALTITUDE OF 2580 METERS IN THE SWISS MOUNTAINS, IN FRONT OF THE "MATTERHORN”, A CELLULAR PHONE RINGS FOLLOWED BY THE ECHO. TECHNOLOGY REACHES THE HEIGHTS BUT

. BREAKS THE ENCHANTING SILENCE OF A MAGICAL PLACE FOR SURE IT WOKE UP THE MAN FROM HIS CONTEMPLATIVE STATE! THE MAN IS ANDREAS REIMANN, AUSTRIAN ARTIST, PRESENTLY SURROUNDEDBY WHITE MOUNTAINS AND SHEEP.

NOBODY, I DON'T SEE ANYBODY RIGHT NOW IT'S UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL !"ONE  CAN HEAR BELLS... THE WIND...BLOWING AWAY WORDS,

ONE BY ONE, FAR, SO FAR.- TO FRANCE WHERE I AM!... WELL, ALMOST. ROMANTIC VISION FOR AN UNUSUAL INTERVIEW I

This is a man, turned artist, open to the world and to others. Self-taught, he never studied painting but was always good in art at school.He starts devoting his free time to painting in the eighties, while living in the United States,on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

'People encouraged me :

'You have talent and you should use it'. People in America are like that. They kept telling me to go on this path,to become an artist... At this time, I was bartending and working in restaurants, and one day, at nineteen, I decided I should only dedicate my time to art. And that is what I did,fifteen years ago now. But I always had to think about how to make a living and support myself, it has always beena concern for me... Being an artist was a dream at the beginning but I slowly made some experimentation and then / decided to really go for it. And / jumped into the cold water ,'.

He has his first exhibition on this island in South Carolina.His work was then very different: painting with brushes scenes and landscapes in a more traditional way He was also doing some interior design work...another way to get to art, more like an applied work,but not pure creation./n December 1988 he decides to go back to Vienna,where he was born, to exhibit and live as on artist:"and live well". Indeed, Andreas Reimann likes beautiful and expensive things as well as good wines and wants to be able to afford them. This can be a real challenge for an artist' Being a struggling artist does not attract him at all ,He's another type of artist. A popular artist.

In the early eighties he experiments with different techniques and specializes in further developments of Pop Art in the tradition of Warhol portraits. A natural evolution.First / was only painting layers by layers Over the years / kept trying to do it better and finally go tto my signature style which is now the usage of many different layers of silkscreenings as. part of a mixed media creation ". Silk-screening has enabled him to express more.

'/ was making portraits and wanted to use a combinationof things associated with the people portrayed, like a monument, in my piece. This element could have been difficult or even boring to paint, whereas with screening,I could select part of a picture, and was then able to put everything together in a collage... Screening is a miracle :so many combinations are possible'

You can mix things from the past, the future and the present'. With the series of portraits 'Homage to to Marlene Dietrich' and then "Homage to Romy Schneider", many interpretations on the same theme, his style gels more defined.Since 1997-1998, with the combination of silk-screening and mixed-media, he produces pieces more and more complex and very technical with many hidden details.

 Thus, Andreas Reimann reinvents Pop Art in a dynamic way A man of his time, a DJ mixing new versions of famous songs'. '/ take one piece from here, another piece from there'.His work becomes more than just on image.

He adds refined details, other meanings and symbols to be interpreted.For his work wants to be interpreted ;it can be appreciated, decoded and understood by everyone, no matter the country, the culture or the education.

"Naturally, I wanted to keep it simple for the public;one does not need to explain my pieces.You only have to look at them and you see, you understand". Thus one can speak of Pop Artist in the sense of peoples artist. He likes to entertain people and tries to seduce them,even if he knows he cannot please everybody.

"Let me entertain you" is the title of his portfolio. All is said! Painter of famous faces? Yes but not only that...indeed, back in 1987 he paints his first large portraitof Tina Turner. After overcoming a lot of barriers,he manages to present it to her"She brought it on stage during a concert and showed it to a crowd of        15 000. It was unbelievable !"

Later on he paints icons of the XX" century and versions from the series Homage to Marlene was used as stage-background in the official100 birthday celebration honoring the legendary divaat the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin. Visually it was beautiful! I have had never seen my painting so big.I want to have one maybe on Broadway one day"

But what really interests him with these celebrity faces,more than the fact that they are famous,is what you feel when looking at the image itself.An American couple, who did not know who Romy Schneider was, bought one of the portraits. They were taken by the image. 'The look... I am probably searching for a certain look in the person. Maybe you see it". Besides, Andreas Reimann is actually working on a series of portraits of ordinary people. 

Today Andreas is exploring different fields.He is working with a group of Austrian designerson fabric prints for clothes, linen and furniture.He has just held an exhibition of light plexiglass sculpturesin France, and also continues his collaboration with his artist friend Tobias Hermeling, in the way of Warhol and Basquiat.

A way of renewing oneself and Finding new inspiration. Although he has lots of that...Here he is, his head fulI of projects and images, landscapes, visual reality escapes, and dreams...

This is when we find him in the mountains touching the sky, watching the Matterhorn, searching for good and inspiring shots. Silence... far out there.

SOPHIE MAUPOIL

Barobjects for the ANDREAS REIMANN showroom VISUAL SEDUCTION in Vienna

original screening on plexiglas