Tina Reichel’s artwork on view.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

Tina Reichel is a painter who focuses on colour. Be it a classic panel painting or an innovative sculpture, colour is a primary element in her works. She has visited world cities such as London, Moscow and Dubai, which is where she found the subjects of her paintings. In many of her pieces, her signature strokes reflect the architectural landmarks of international metropolises.

The Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building and Burj Khalifa, are painted in the same special light as the Colosseum, Notre-Dame and the cathedral in her hometown, Erfurt, Germany. Invariably, she always stages her motifs in a passionate flush of colour. She uses fluorescent colours that make the pieces glow not only in the day, but also in the dark. She showed her works recently at NoFilterDXB, an experimental outdoor motoring, sports and urban lifestyle festival, in celebration of the UAE’s 50th anniversary (Nov. 24 – 27) at Dubai Harbour.

 Cocoons is a blend of painting and sculpture.

The series was titled Cocoons and Reichel came out of her cocoon to answer questions posed by Gulf Today Why does colour attract you? Colours are pure emotion for me. As different as the colour palette is, just as different can be the feelings and emotions inside a person. I want to try to trigger emotions in people through the power of colour. Therefore, I also use more unconventional colours, such as fluorescent colours in UV light, to create completely new perspectives and thus new sensations of colour conditions.

I would like to expand the horizons of people with my artwork and show what colours trigger in me. What draws you to landmark buildings? Their character? Legacies? Other?I have travelled a lot around the world and have been able to visit many of the imposing and famous metropolises. In many of the major world cities I could present my art, as now also in Dubai. Each time, I was taken by the buildings, skyscrapers and the respective architecture there.

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I think it is exciting what can be created by human hands and how our works of art imprint themselves into a world view. However, many of these buildings are mostly monochrome and only work through the arrival of light and reflections. I want to bring these buildings to life with my art and reinterpret them in a colourful way. My strong colour scheme should in turn initiate and trigger emotions. I offer my architectural paintings as a tribute to these buildings. Is art liberated when it moves from canvasses to sculptures? Is Cocoons a crossover gimmick or a discipline? No, I don’t think it will be liberated in that sense. I think that art is evolving in this way, becoming more creative and more diverse. It’s a process that art is in, and it always lies in learning something new. My goal and my innermost aspiration is that art is not viewed only two-dimensionally. Art also integrates itself into the room and establishes a new experience through a certain three-dimensionality.

I want my art — especially my Cocoons — to be perceived from all perspectives. Just as different as these perspectives are, just as different are the emotions that can be triggered by them. I want to push this phenomenon further and create a symbiosis of classical ways of looking and reading artworks with new perceptions. How does technology influence your work? Artistic techniques and working methods are also in constant change. And I, as a contemporary artist, also want to move and work with the times.

I experiment a lot in my studio and try out new things. In the world of art, too, the standard phrase applies: “You never stop learning.” So, I am also always evolving. For example, I am just discovering the crazy world of NFTs and this much I can already reveal: I will soon present my first artworks as NFTs. In addition, I am currently thinking about going even further into interior art and possibly even developing furniture — developed and produced by the techniques and working methods that I also use in my art.

What place does art have amidst yachts, cars, food and fashion, as at NoFilterDXB? In our time, the establishment of contact and exchange between artists and art lovers no longer takes place exclusively through the classic gallery business. No, even quite the opposite, I think. Art is currently leaving this sphere and is moving more and more into the centre of every society. Art is entering the public sphere. So that all people, and not only a small elite of society, can participate in it. That’s why it’s also important for artists to break new ground.

And that is exactly why this phenomenon is important to me. I would like to present my art on new platforms where people interested in art, also like to spend time and have intellectual discourses about art and artists. This certainly includes yacht clubs, showrooms, trade fairs, and also clubs, restaurants or hotels with a certain standard. These are all new exhibition possibilities where I can see my art well and with pleasure.

Why are you fascinated by Dubai? Dubai is insanely fast-moving and the city is writing history right now at this moment - in which I would like to participate with my art. It is difficult to describe the phenomenon of “Dubai” or put it into words. I think you have to have experience it yourself once and be here. When you come back a year later, the city looks completely different again, shines in a new light — and that inspires me. That’s exactly how my art also is — in flux — which is why I can identify with Dubai in the best possible way.