Gabriele Lockstaedt NEMESIS

Seven paintings
on the passion of christ
Seven
In the beginning there was the mystical number seven. God
finished the creation of the world (genesis) on the seventh
day. The period of passion lasts seven weeks. Intuitively, Gabriele
Lockstaedt also created seven paintings in reference
to the spiritual core of the christian passion. Mathematically,
the mystical number seven comprises of the number
three (=deity) and the number four(=world). Seven is, and
always has been, the sacred number of the holy bible and a
universal spiritual symbol.
In early history, our sun system comprised of seven planets
orbiting the fixed planet earth. Each planet symbolized an
ancient deity representing one day of the week. Even today,
most roman languages still refer to this symbolic pattern.
The rainbow - symbolizing the spiritual alliance between
god and mankind – shows seven colours. Furthermore,
it serves as a symbol of devine grace and eternal forgiveness.
The entire cycle of the christian faith – from genesis
to Adam and Eve all the way to the passion of Jesus and
his eventual resurrection – is devided into seven principal
chapters. Until the 15. Century, the „Via Dolorosa“ knew
seven stations of the suffering of christ. Only after the 17.
century, franziscan monks and some chapters of catholic
church doubled the „ordeal of the cross“ as we know today.
Passion and Nemesis
Decoding artistic metaphors is one oft he most thrilling and
demanding processes in art history. In the fourth century
A.D., the passion of christ was often represented on byzantine
tombs and sarcophagus with the cruzifiction of Jesus
as its central motive. By replacing the crown of thorns with
the laurel wreath, it also announced the eventual resurrection
of christ. In the 12. century, the clergy put the suffering
of christ in an even closer personal context and began
to reenact the passion in search of devine forgiveness and
general absolution. From now on, the christian passion not
only adhered physical suffering, death and resurrection, but
merciful forgiveness and seminal spiritual dedication as
well. Apart from depicting the passion of christ, the history
of art does not know any specific iconographic metaphors of
the theme of christian passion as such. There is neither any
fixed number of motives, nor is their any specific beginning
or ending in this regard.
Gabriele Lockstaedt titled her cycle of paintings „Nemesis“,
which clearly exceeds the original christian context. The ancient
greek goddess of moral justice either rewarded the
rightious or punished human hybris and foolish wantoness.
Obviously, Lockstaedt’s title reaches far beyond the common
definition of „Passion“. These paintings aren´t just abstract
works refering to certain dogmas within the christian
faith, but powerful universal statements. They put human
suffering and christian passion, inner fear and everlasting
hope - as well as the mysteries of life and death - in a very
personal context.
Mortality versus infinity – life versus death
The abstract nature of this body of work does not suggest any
specific succession. The audience may reflect individually on
each painting and is invited to wander back and forth as to
enjoy as many different angles and perspectives as possible.
All of these works should be anticipated as intuitively as they
were arranged.
Each format relates to the unique environment of the spacious
„Art Gallery St. Ottilien“. Two huge upright formats
contrast with five large square ones, with two of the later
being wide diptychs. It is only for the colours and materials
to define the successive alignment of her „Nemesis – Passion“
Cycle. In general, the colour red dominates large areas
of the canvas. Onyl twice, green and yellow are the prevailing
colours. Historically, the colour red symbolizes not only love
and power, but also fire, blood and open conflict. Especially in
Detail aus Doubt
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