Introduction
The charming location of the small town of Radebeul near Dresden, nestled between the Elbe Valley and vineyards, also known as Saxon Nice, the neighbouring Moritzburg ponds, the gentle hills of Thuringia, but also trips to Sardinia, Andalusia and Finland are the inspiration for Karen Graf's paintings. Her work, created since the mid-1980s, with its landscapes, still lifes, interiors and allegorical portraits, resembles a Precious treasure. The viewer is presented with a quiet, internalised, often poetically melancholic visual world that tells of everyday and remembered moments. According to Karen Graf, she uses light, space and colour to search for ‘the right tone’ in order to capture reality and dreams, everyday life and longing in her paintings. Karen Graf's desire to become a painter developed at an early age. However, after successfully completing evening classes at the Dresden Art Academy from 1982 to 1985, she was denied a place to study painting in Leipzig. She owes her Dresden teachers Agathe Böttcher and Fritz Panndorf not only her technical skills skills, she also owes them above all her confidence and self-assurance for her artistic path. When Karen Graf met her future husband, the painter Peter Graf, in 1988, she internalised the spirit of independence that had been preserved in his circle of friends since the 1950s, when young artists such as Peter Hermann, Peter Makolies, Winfried Dierske, Ralf Winkler (A.R. Penck) and Peter Böttcher (Strawalde). Independence and determination, a creative approach far removed from any fads, have characterised Karen Graf's sincere paintings from the very beginning. Professional activities and the birth of her two sons put Karen Graf's artistic work on hold until the end of the 1990s. Since then, she has been continuously creating works that are the result of her intense observation, experience and selfquestioning, imbued with inner beauty, human spirit and an extraordinary sense of sound. The gentle mood of her colours exerts a special fascination. With a muted painterly undertone, the colour palette ranges from pink and violet to warm yellow, ochre and brown. Karen Graf loves shades of green and blue, ranging from turquoise to grey or white. Each painting exudes its own finely tuned atmosphere. Pictures of the Mediterranean appear brightly lit in an Arcadian guise, autumn pictures richly warm in a dignified melancholy. Each painting exudes its own finely tuned atmosphere. Pictures of the Mediterranean appear brightly lit in an Arcadian garb, autumn pictures richly warm in a solemn melancholy. In addition to the balanced colour scheme, harmonious compositions testify to the search for pictorial harmony. The flatly painted landscapes, whose depth is created with the help of plasticity and atmospheric chiaroscuro, as well as still lifes and interiors, are orderly, with clearly defined forms giving the objects stability. Everything is imbued with an Everything is imbued with an enchanting sensuality: berries smell sweet, laundry Dances heavily in the wind, spray foams. Karen Graf's painting is a gift for anyone who is able to taste, smell and touch with their eyes, to comprehend sensually.
