Prof. Jerry Zeniuk

Wholeness, completeness - not oneness. Like a man and a woman, these paintings speak to this issue. I speak of these paperworks as paintings, because they are whole as a conception and realization and therefore the medium is transcended.

In our society today we find fracture, separation, disintegration to be dominant themes. It is by now a recognized issue that some art reinforces and exalts.

To confuse the viewer with multiple visual spaces and provide a forum for "playhouse viewer participation".

But Cornelia Eichacker wanted a baby. And was blessed with one. Somehow I think this fits coincidentally with her concept of wholeness. Curiously this quality in her work attracts me, even seduces me but always remains separate. I enter the space of each painting only to realize I am a visitor. Which is why I want to come back. I am a visitor because the space, the light, and equilibrium belongs only to her. It is her home and I accept her invitation only to return to mine. We must all go to heaven or hell alone but while we are here we whish to participate in the view of these people; artists give meaning to the time we spend here on the earth. And the degree to which some articulate this journey or space, gives a measure to the possibility of fullness or wholeness.

But can wholeness be better or worse. By nature of the word it cannot. More simply put, can a person be more or less. In a way, we think we try to realize this wholeness but we don`t all arrive. However, if we do, then there is no more a hierarchy. Wholeness is absolute.

With these paintings I find wholeness and they are fullfilling and one has only to visit. There is nothing really to say. That is the power of the work. We need only to permit ourselves to accept this invitation that is in the paintings.

Text von Prof. Jerry Zeniuk
Akademie der Bildenden Künste München
zur Eröffnung der Ausstellung, Cornelia Eichacker

Brooklyn, 1995,
Arbeiten auf Papier

in der Galerie Renate Bender,
München, am 16. Mai 1998

One must look at a painting by him or herself. You must feel it yourself. I cannot do it for you. I can give you an explanation and you may respond with empathy to this explanation but this does not alter the fact that you must look at the painting by yourself and have your own feeling. And of course this makes sense to speak about only if you believe that ultimately an aesthetic experience is a feeling of some kind that is conveyed in an intelligent way.

Nela Eichackers watercolor paintings come out of color and color in this case is all feeling. So it makes sense to speak about feelings.

Many painters have done just that. If you look at the paintings around this gallery, you will notice the invitation they offer to pictorially go inside and participate in the sensations of color ordered in her special way, that lead me and possibly you to experience her eye and her feelings at the time each work was painted.

I luckily wagered Nela one of my watercolors against one of hers over a personal matter and won. So I am writing this text looking at this new beautiful painting (not in the exhibition), enjoying the space and light and skin that makes it an entity that asks something from me – particularly my attention – and rewards me by holding that attention.

We have known one another for more than three years now and I see her work changing. These paintings done in New York in many ways reveal how she opened herself to the environment of the city. The light in the painting has a clarity that belongs to her. There is an order that grows out of that experience. That one can feel this is a measure of the worth of the time spent looking at each work.

It is enough, it is necessary to allow yourself to see. But in order to allow this you must prepare yourself as if you were preparing yourself for a lover. To be touched, to move within, to feel that person, to feel yourself. In this way you transcend yourself. These watercolors invite you also to come out of yourself and through the work to be returned to your feelings. The concrete facts are on the wall. I am here only to formally introduce you to them. It is your privilege to participate in them as it is my privilege.

Text von Prof. Jerry Zeniuk
Akademie der Bildenden Künste München
zur Eröffnung der Ausstellung, Cornelia Eichacker

Aquarelle

in der Galerie Michael Zink,
München, am 12. Mai 1996