introduction by dr.bozena kowalska

the pursuit of harmony, architecture, painting and sculpturing as one

the painter, charly moeller, is atypical - by any standards. unusual is also the path which lead him to the art of painting. although devoted to the fine arts since his youth, he did not pursue a course of studies in painting at an academy of arts but rather took courses in architecture at a technical college and obtained his degree in this profession. he returned to painting after having made his way to becoming an established and prominent architect.

the growth of his creative art, when he found his way back to painting, was also out-of-line with the usual patterns of artistic evolution. the process of development of artists who employ the language of geometry for their expression, mostly progresses from the representational to abstractionism and from detail to synthesis. conversely, charly moeller right from the outset created purely abstract compositions. he preoccupied himself with the enquiry into the concept of space by constructing sparingly fashioned reliefs, structuring, for example, vertical edgings and small matching squares, which were on the one hand laid on top of the composition area and on the other hand cut out thereon, thus opening up a vista into the space beyond the picture. these works struck one as being severe to the point of austerity: the determining principle being the resolve to configurate space and to impose order through the harmonious correlation of forms.

during the first half of the nineties, charly moeller’s painting proceeded to enter the material world of representational art and was enriched by a diversity of colours. the place formerly occupied in the painting by the bottleneck-defined view of space with its intellectual appeal has now been supplanted by the painted spatial perspective which excites the imagination.

strangely surprising is this conversion to the representational in moeller’s oeuvre. It is not a change in position with the intention to imitate reality in his paintings, but rather the fusion of moeller the architect with moeller the painter. consequently, his compositions manifest the sublimated form of pictorial-architectural extemporizations.

accordingly, the genre of painting created by charly moeller is unusual to the degree that it eludes every attempt to classify it into any specific school of art. if a categorization needs to be made, his paintings might justifiably be systematized along the lines of the language of geometry - in the broadest sense of meaning - perhaps, even to the point of geometrical abstraction, because the architectural motifs in his pictures become increasingly less intelligible and at times even completely unrecognizable. but then, even as abstraction this art of painting is unique.

marcel brion ¹ discerns four main currents in the abstract art: 1. the constructive, 2. the magical and religious 3. the impressionistic and 4. the expressionistic. the latter two have obviously been disregarded in moeller’s paintings and the rigorous constructivism too has found no place in his work. that is to say, neither those aesthetics of mechanics, which are a characteristic of constructivism nor such a cult of technology, functionalism and mechanism have found their way into his pictures. actually, quite the contrary is the case. possibly, his art - with its phantasy and its mystery - would approach closest to a kind of magical abstractionism.

free of conjectures only is the fact, that space and rhythm are the essential problems which fascinate charly moeller. are they not also two key issues of architecture? but here again, the depiction of space in his paintings is again atypical. yi-fu tuan ² differentiates between three basic types of spatial character: 1. the mystical, 2. the pragmatic, 3. the abstract, theoretical.

being an architect, moeller is much involved with spatial dimensions within the meaning of the second of the above mentioned categories. yet, the space which he magically evokes in his pictures does not fit into any of these categories.taking all of this into account, it is obviously a formidable task to find precursors or even a general characterization for moeller’s paintings. they are unique pictures, drawing their inspiration from architecture and yet, not a single one of these paintings represents material objects or portrays architectural constructions. if anything, they are a painter’s variations on a theme of architecture. this theme, as said before, is in itself , at times barely recognizable. having been fashioned with geometrical forms and made up with a frugal palette of paints, limited to three or four colours, these compositions shall always be nearly or completely abstract by nature.as mentioned earlier, moeller’s intellectual curiosity centers predominantly on space and rhythm. thus, there are two elements which dominate his paintings. his work from the first half of the nineties still shows recognizable architectural fragments, which although simplified and abstracted, are unmistakably evident, as for instance, a facade with a continuously retreating balcony form as seen from below, manifoldly reproduced vertical pillars or flights of steps. later, during the second half of the nineties, the synthesis of form is still more developed, the quadrangle of the picture selects constantly diminishing cut-outs of building constructions which as a result become increasingly less distinct or even quite obscured. simultaneously emphasis is given to the rhythm of the forms, which have become wholly conventionalized. deceptive, disquieting spatial systems emerge, which have a monumental effect, seeming to be at the same time also poetic and mysterious. the aspiration of the artist to evoke the emotional response to magic or to the mysterious is substantiated by the titles of his paintings, such as “stairway to heaven”, “boundless space” or “development of mind”. inherent in moeller’s paintings is a certain paradoxical quality, which is masterfully worked out by the artist. that is to say, he does not give prominence to the three-dimensionality of painted figures by use of shading or other means, but rather accomplishes this exclusively with geometrical forms filled with evenly applied colours.³ thus, his method would correspond to a technique of flat painting. with this method, moeller allows the spatial dimension to extend far into the perspectival depth and to reach out frontward towards the observer. ⁴

many of moeller’s conceptions - especially those relating to the social aspects of art - are connected with the constructivist avant-garde. However, unlike the constructivists who set great value on the practical purpose and maximum economy of the applied means to an end, moeller accords precedence to other values. he critically assesses the fact that modern building design and construction is subordinated to the assignment of functional requirements, which is exactly what society - the majority of consumers - expects from architecture.

as mentioned earlier, moeller’s intellectual curiosity centers predominantly on space and rhythm. thus, there are two elements which dominate his paintings. his work from the first half of the nineties still shows recognizable architectural fragments, which although simplified and abstracted, are unmistakably evident, as for instance, a facade with a continuously retreating balcony form as seen from below, manifoldly reproduced vertical pillars or flights of steps. later, during the second half of the nineties, the synthesis of form is still more developed, the quadrangle of the picture selects constantly diminishing cut-outs of building constructions which as a result become increasingly less distinct or even quite obscured. simultaneously emphasis is given to the rhythm of the forms, which have become wholly conventionalized. deceptive, disquieting spatial systems emerge, which have a monumental effect, seeming to be at the same time also poetic and mysterious. the aspiration of the artist to evoke the emotional response to magic or to the mysterious is substantiated by the titles of his paintings, such as “stairway to heaven”, “boundless space” or “development of mind”.inherent in moeller’s paintings is a certain paradoxical quality, which is masterfully worked out by the artist. that is to say, he does not give prominence to the three-dimensionality of painted figures by use of shading or other means, but rather accomplishes this exclusively with geometrical forms filled with evenly applied colours. thus, his method would correspond to a technique of flat painting. with this method, moeller allows the spatial dimension to extend far into the perspectival depth and to reach out frontward towards the observer.many of moeller’s conceptions - especially those relating to the social aspects of art - are connected with the constructivist avant-garde. however, unlike the constructivists who set great value on the practical purpose and maximum economy of the applied means to an end, moeller accords precedence to other values. he critically assesses the fact that modern building design and construction is subordinated to the assignment of functional requirements, which is exactly what society - the majority of consumers - expects from architecture. ⁵

dr. bozena kowalska, warsaw

notes

m. brion "geschichte der abstrakten kunst", cologne 1960
yi - fu tuan "przistrzen i miejsce", warsaw 1987
charly moeller "architektonische reminiszenzen"
w.o.
w.o.