Project 10 : Residency at Künsterlerbahnhof, Ebernburg 2015.

 

Clarke and Gartz discussed the relevance of Joseph Mallord William Turner to their collaborative practice: his use of research drawing, almost abstract water colour painting and the colour theory of Goethe. They decided to embark on the new project `Turner`s Travels` where Clarke and Gartz followed in Turner`s footsteps making work at the significant locations where Turner painted in the 19th Century. Clarke and Gartz first visited the Rivers Rhine and Mosel in 2007, Yorkshire in 2008, Venice in 2009, Isle of Wight in 2010 and Rheinland in 2013.

During research Clarke and Gartz discovered Turner had followed the Rivers Rhine and Nahe in 1844 and made evocative paintings of Kreuznach, the Rheingrafenstein and Schloss Ebernburg. This project then led to their appointment as Künsterlerbahnhof  ‘artists in residence’ in 2015 at the Rhineland spa town of Ebernburg, located at the tributary of the river Nahe, an area of mountains, vineyards and craggy massifs.

Clarke and Gartz made a very productive residency in Ebernburg exploring the distinctive `sublime´ landscapes of the Rotenfels and the Rheingrafenstein. They could be seen making plein-air paintings by the River Nahe which they then developed into more ambitious experimental paintings for the exhibitions at the Künstlerbahnhof Gallery.