SONNTAG: Painting from Düsseldorf
curated by Stefan Kürten

“Sonntag” means “Sunday,” and to me is the strangest day of the week… *

Sundays are the traditional day of rest. They frequently entail amusement,
recreation, family, reflection and religion. They are the antithesis of the work-
week or “the everyday.” They promise the possibility of the exceptional. They
are about imagining, dreaming and longing. They may hold a hint of the dread
of Monday and what the future might bring.

The representational painters whose works comprise this exhibition –
Björn Dressler, Jutta Haeckel, Stefan Höller, Driss Ouadahi, Glen Rubsamen,
Stefan Wissel – all live and work in Düsseldorf, Germany, though their back-
grounds are diverse. In some way, each paints about landscape and all mine
notions of the “romantic” or “idyllic.” The work selected presents a range of
interpretations, from Höller’s 18th-century inspired scenes to Wissel’s witty
abstractions.

I see the artists in this show as all connected, like the trademark for Audi with
the four overlapping circles. Imagine six circles, and every one is important for
the whole. *

* Stefan Kürten, Spring 2006