Christel Sobke

In my wide-ranging art work the creative dialogue with the increasing problems of our environment has an important place. It occupied my mind since 1978, still before, I became a student of fine arts. Then, environmental themes were not popular at all.

Very early I created environmental series with 3 images, paintings in a representative style, with repetition of motif (typical landscapes and famous monuments) but altered colours according to a strictly predicted colour scheme and rowing based on analogue colour photography. My artistic appeal was merely expressed via colours. I was influenced by Warhol and Monet.

My first computer I bought in 1992. Its capacity and technique were very poor. The purpose was to print my own catalogue. But soon I began to use it for creating artistic works. The sight of a street scene in NJC, an immensely enlarged scan, was my start. With the help of a great variety of digital brushes, pencils, etc. I created the digital series “Life in the city“ which I chanced to exhibit some years later in NYC. I was thrilled by the innumerous artistic possibilties that digital device offered to me, and I became a great friend of digital technique. In Germany I had unfortunately to experience that computer art was not accepted as art at all, then.
This small catalogue shows images that are composed of different materials from nature. Mostly withered twigs, leaves, blossoms, all sort of particles from plants, some pebbles and volcanic stone. The objects are arranged before a dramatic background, often a scan with maritime scenes or other overwhelming landscapes and amazingly bizarre clouded skies. The colours are intensified and altered to enhance the dramatic effect. Many images are super-realistic in style showing an absurdly strange scenery …. that must not become reality.