INTERVIEW WITH CLEMENS TREMMEL

Clemens Tremmel, born in Eisenhüttenstadt in 1988, paints on aluminum instead of canvas. His works, one initially thinks, refer to the Romantic era. Awarded the Caspar David Friedrich Prize in 2013, he does not, however, create idealized landscapes, but rather landscape paintings that sometimes appear almost desolate. His works break through the tradition of historical painting through overpainting and scratching on the canvas. The presumed romantic world order is thus questioned by Tremmel through his manipulation of the canvas.

In an interview with Hatje Cantz, Clemens Tremmel discusses Friedrich's artistic values of humility and modesty as a counter-design to today's superficiality.

Hatje Cantz: Have you experienced a very personal "Friedrich moment" in your life that you would like to tell us about?

Clemens Tremmel: There have been and continue to be many such moments in my life. More accurately, I experience these moments constantly. With Caspar David Friedrich and his work, I associate the longing for freedom, vastness, and naturalness, a feeling of deep understanding of the environment, but also of oneself – a feeling of devotion, of losing oneself and merging. I would describe it somewhat like a wave at night, carefully moving towards you from apparent nothingness and then receding again.

HC: Can you tell us which elements from Friedrich's work you have incorporated into your
own artworks and why you consider Friedrich to be relevant even today?

CT: Besides the feelings, I draw messages and values from Friedrich's work that, in my opinion, are worth advocating for. These are values like humility, modesty, earnest compassion, consideration, and benevolence. Values that, at least it seems to me, no longer play a significant role in today's world, or at least have been forgotten or supplanted by aggressive advertising promises, technical refinements, and the constant desire for progress – at any cost.
To escape or counteract this superficiality – a world between "Everything's so nice!" and "Be greedy!" – I search for, find, and experience places/landscapes worldwide that give me a sense of depth, even sublimity. There, I get caught in a kind of vortex, pull, or frenzy, which I later try to capture artistically on canvas or aluminum. Subsequent interventions such as overpainting, scratching, or smashing serve to injure the aesthetic. The loss of the whole can be perceived as a loss of harmony. Making us aware of what is truly missing, through the destruction of the ideal, as a response to the emptiness and rationality of our time.

Image credit : Header image: © Nicolás Rupcich ; Images in text: Clemens Tremmel – Bromo, 2023, © Clemens Tremmel; Clemens Tremmel – Sakhra (3), 2021, © Clemens Tremmel