Timur Luka’s works begin as soon as the head is free. Only then can his powerful color compositions unfold loosely over the picture support. Free from shoulder and elbow, the artist moves the brush across the canvas, with individual forms seemingly playfully easy to find their place. The artist works at once spontaneously and thoughtfully. By combining variations of filigree lines with coarse brush surfaces, a dynamic is released that is rounded off by the use of powerful colors.

The works presented by the artist in the group exhibition „akkord“ at Galerie Rettberg have been created since his graduation from the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (February 2018). They are characterized by a combination of powerful yellow and gray tones, which Lukas combines with nuances of black. First, the artist applies a gray primer to the picture support, which consists of pigments and chalk charcoal. Step by step, thoughtful and uncontrolled brush movements find their place on it. For example, the work „Perfectly Imperfect“ (2018, oil on canvas, 190 x 150 cm) begins with an uneven, radiant yellow rectangle in the upper edge of the picture. This is surrounded by black, repeating accents of charcoal, oil and pastel. They are applied in varying thicknesses, making them look like impressions of each other, but freely juxtaposed by hand.

They are reminiscent of calligraphic marks, placing subtle quotations next to the fleeting-looking brushstrokes. In other works, concrete words can be seen, which at first glance seem like spontaneous notes and give the works an additional linguistic level. In both small and large-format works, Lukas combines powerful colors with one another. These do not mix on the primer of the picture carrier, but retain their own spaces. Each color can thus stand for itself without having to refer to anything else. Sometimes the paint is applied so thinly that it looks like chalk and lets the underlying background of the picture shine out. In other places it is so rich that individual brush bristles can be seen in it. Even in the smallest forms, this creates an interplay of muted and shimmering colors.

In their combination they achieve a pictorial effect that is at once loose and deliberate, clear and blurred, loud and quiet. Timur Lukas explores the relationship between color, form and structure in his art. His works are only completed when continuing to work no longer feels right. In addition to the works on canvas, works on paper were also created for the exhibition „akkord“, which the artist put together from several individual sheets. In this way, he reverts to the motif of the pictorial grid, which can be found in many of his works and serves as orientation, especially in large works. In comparison, the positions shown in the Rettberg Gallery are characterized by a more spontaneous arrangement of the forms on the picture support. The compositions now seem to float more freely on the primer, as if they could be observed gradually taking shape.