Quick Five questions with Volker Hermes – Artist

12th March 2024

HomeBlog › Quick Five questions with Volker Hermes – Artist
Photo: Franz Schuier

Your knowledge of portraits is amazing, did you study Art History?

I studied fine arts and have always been very interested in the context of art. When I see a historical portrait, I want to know more about the artist, but also about the society that surrounded him or her. I want to learn about the architecture for which this work of art was created, about the interior design and the fashion depicted. And one of the few good things about aging is that knowledge doesn’t just accumulate, but cross-references emerge and at some point you can draw a bigger picture quite naturally.

Volker Hermes Hidden Bouguereau Photocollage 2022

Left: Volker Hermes Hidden Moroni Photocollage 2015 Right: Volker Hermes Hidden Roslin III Photocollage 2020

You only include in your work detail which actually exists in the portrait or sculpture, where did this idea spring from?

It’s a question of respect. I want to work with the historical originals, but not to violate their dignity and integrity. That’s why I only use elements of the painting itself and my interventions fit in plausibly. In a way, the originals are already offering me their modification. And I don’t want to imitate the historical way of painting, which I find pointless as a contemporary painter. So I use image processing and create photographic works that are recognizable as such.

Left: Volker Hermes Hidden Vivien II Photocollage 2020. Right: Volker Hermes Hidden Ziesenis Photocollage 2019.
Left: Volker Hermes Hidden Graven Photocollage 2020. Right: Volker Hermes Hidden Jacometto Photocollage 2019.

Do you enjoy painting and drawing? Have you had any formal training?

I studied painting at the renowned academy of art in Düsseldorf. That can probably be described as formal training. But I was already painting before I started studying painting, 30 years ago, and never stopped until today. One is tempted to say that you can’t keep going for such a long time without a certain enjoyment of the process.

Volker Hermes Hidden Wyczółkowski Photocollage 2021

The balance of showing the hidden and exposed in your work is fascinating. Can you see yourself creating more in this way using film and animation?

I’m absolutely open to new techniques if they promise to express what I want to say as an artist. That’s why it’s no problem for me as a painter to use digital image processing in a certain part of my work. Most recently, a solo exhibition was opened at the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum in Germany, showing my paintings together with my photographic works. I guess this invitation shows that my different technical approaches come together to form a coherent artistic statement. Maybe I’ll produce films one day. You never know.

Volker Hermes Hidden Catena Photocollage 2021.

Tell us about the kind of artwork and sculpture you have in your own home?

I don’t have anything hanging on the walls in my apartment, and there are only the most necessary pieces of furniture or other objects in general. My home is a contemplative space after a lot of work in my studio. But it is the opposite of empty, it’s actually packed with possibilities.

Volker Hermes: https://www.hermes.art

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