"Ideas for lingering images": Tim Eitel at the Kunsthalle

The arts and customs prevalent in a particular society or group. - "Ideas for lingering images": Tim Eitel at the Kunsthalle

Kunsthalle Rostock is showcasing 53 artworks by the artist Tim Eitel starting from this weekend. Eitel is part of the New Leipzig School and his works date back from 2015 till 2024. The idea of this exhibition was born 10 years ago when Uwe Neumann, the Kunsthallen-Leiter, was captivated by a painting by the artist in Basel. "Tim Eitel manages to take painting into the 21st century," shares Neumann.

The exhibition, titled "Suggestions for Afterimages", displays Eitel's paintings on the second floor of the Kunsthalle. Many of his pieces feature interiors of museums with people, mostly women and men, standing or walking, looking. The figures are painted in a photorealistic style. "I don’t make sketches," states Eitel who studied at the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts and has been teaching at the Beaux-Arts de Paris since 2015. He curated the Rostock exhibition himself. He also shared that sometimes, the images were created in dialogue with the subject itself.

The term "Afterimages" refers to fleeting impressions and moments that visually reverberate when we close our eyes after looking at something intense. Eitel's paintings are people who have left their mark in their own lives, but are partially present or have completely disappeared. He described it as, "They are the ones who are there, yet not really."

A painting that clearly portrays this concept is "Afterimage", measuring 1.80 x 2.10 meters, depicting his deceased wife walking with her deceased great-uncle, yet appearing disconnected, in front of a loosely suggested landscape in southern France. "I don't know if the painting is finished," says the 53-year-old painter from Baden-Württemberg. The motif of his wife reappears in the second part of the exhibition.

Although there's no suggested route through the bright rooms, the contrast between the areas is evident, especially where he exhibits people in their relationships - groups of women or close-ups of a man with a black beard. The viewers seem drawn into an intimate space. You can observe careful gestures signifying dominance.

Eitel allows the figures in his paintings to have their own lives. He doesn't play the part of the all-knowing narrator. The viewers are invited to make their own interpretations. This is why the title of the exhibition also reads "Suggestions for Afterimages". The show is on display from June 2nd to September 8th at the Kunsthalle.

Read also:

1. The inspiration for the exhibition at Kunsthalle Rostock came from a painting by Tim Eitel that Uwe Neumann, the Kunsthallen-Leiter, discovered in Basel 10 years ago.
2. Eitel's exhibition, titled "Suggestions for Afterimages", showcases his paintings on the second floor of the Kunsthalle in Rostock.
3. Many of Eitel's paintings feature interiors of museums with people, mostly women and men, standing or walking, looking.
4. Eitel's artwork can be found in an art gallery in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as well as in Paris's Beaux-Arts de Paris, where he teaches.
5. The exhibition in Rostock includes a painting titled "Afterimage" that depicts Eitel's deceased wife walking with her deceased great-uncle in a loosely suggested landscape in southern France.
6. Eitel's exhibition in Rostock, which runs from June 2nd to September 8th, invites viewers to make their own interpretations, as he allows the figures in his paintings to have their own lives.

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