Christian Brandl - The People on the Picture

Christian Brandl, born in 1970 in Erfurt, lives and works in Leipzig. He studied at the School of Visual Arts Leipzig painting and graphic arts with Professor Arno Rink and was a master student of Professor Ulrich Hachulla from 1999-2001. His paintings appear in numerous exhibitions dealing with the phenomenon of 'New Leipzig School'.

Christian Brandl designs and stages pictures of moments, stagnant life situations with people, often in everyday, almost banal situations. His characters seem lost in their actions and are captured on the canvas as if frozen in motion. The viewer is led involuntarily to continue the sequence of an action offered by Brandl and to deal intensively with which is represented. His paintings exude a tension that is created primarily by the fragmentary nature of the images and the dynamics of the protagonists among themselves. They appear to be restrained, their attitude is not entirely natural and they seem involved in a problematic relationship with each other. Thus, the slightly reserved atmosphere in the pictures is particularly due to Brandl characters.

The clear language of form - clear space, realistic lighting and shadows, and the precise colour definition - underlines the impression of a stagnant film sequence, of which the further development can only be guessed.