Artospective: Portraits by Patrick Becker from Hamburg, Germany.

Valentina II - Part of an on going series Hidden Concepts.

An Interview with Patrick Becker.

Who and from where are you?

My Name is Patrick Becker. I live and work in Hamburg, Germany, where I was also born. (Beautiful City. If it doesn´t rain…like on that sunny day in 1997..)

How you got into this?

When I was eight years old my Mother decided I should do some sports. So a friend of hers proposed Ballet. I actually liked it (since I was the only boy in class ) and eventually became a Ballet Dancer with the Hamburg Ballet. It was a great time with nice roles and the possibility to travel a lot; and seeing lots of different places and cultures. But I always felt the need to create my own art, rather than interpreting the work of others. Then, when I was 24, I thought it was time to move on. I started to study Theater -Direction at the Hamburg University and finished with my Diploma. I went on to direct and choreograph some pieces and while doing that got into filming as well. For a few years I directed commercials, which were good for my bank account, but a Disaster for my Soul. And my body told me so in the most drastic of ways: I got really sick and almost died. I still suffer from the aftermath of this illness, but, on the light side, finally found the time to do, what I always liked doing in my free time: Painting.

What is your driving force?

Emotional curiosity…:

Every Portrait starts by looking at the outside of a Person and the Question, if and how that Person resonates within me. Be it a beautiful Woman, Myself or a perfect stranger. I´m searching for those parts of the painted Person´s personality, that lie hidden beneath the Surface. Sometimes the things I find are painful, sometimes dark, sometimes passionate and powerful - and sometimes all together. Thus, whenever I start a new Painting, I feel like an "Emotional Explorer"; investigating human emotions in all their dimensions. I paint what I see or what I would like to see or could have seen - and then hope, my work shows, what´s actually there. Also I like to broaden the concept of Portraiture as I think not only the face of a Person can represent the Personality but rather the whole body reflects the being of the human.

…and despair:

Every time I am done with a Portrait I feel I could only capture a Glimpse, a fraction of that Person´s Personality. So I need to do another one. And one more….

What kind of work you do and why?

I guess I`m a Serial Painter. I like exploring a subject, until I think I have digged deep enough to move on and explore another one. And because I do think „form is substance“, I tend to use a different technical approach to different themes. For example, I did a Series of „Incorporated Idols“, where I worked only with Ink and Pens on canvas. As for this Series - „Hidden Concepts - The Current State Of A Fluctuating Uncertainty“ - I try to contrast the individual’s outside (painted in soft, light brushstrokes) with the underlying Emotion. Much like in acting, I find, there is always a "Subtext" supporting or contrasting the Portrait of a Person. In “Blue Hour” it is the obvious Melancholia of the figure being opposed by a powerful gesture of resolve, which reflects into the room beyond the woman. Starting with a Graphite Sketch from Photos I took. This is actually how I usually work, as in that photo session I find the painting I want to do. For the underpainting I use quite a lot of Retarders and as I am putting on layers of colors to work out the Skin I reduce Retarders. For the Background I use raw acrylics and spatulas. A lot of times my fingers come in handy, too.

I use acrylics here, because I wanted some cuts and bruises in my paintings; using a Mix of brushes and spatulas. Thus I try to give my works a rough texture opposing the soft brush-strokes of the Portraits themselves.