Rudolf L. Reiter - Bis unsere Leben wieder eins sind

This artist from the Erdinger Moos has taken infinite pains with the paintings discussed here, so that they show no trace of such effort. He is highly reputed and has found great attention for his naturalist landscapes, but also for his »Visionary landscapes« verging on the abstract. There is also a third, »new« world which this painter has successfully approached: an »amorphous« world which is permitted to burst inside out - seemingly free of purpose or destination- or rather, with the sole aim of finding his place in such chaos. In these paintings Reiter permits his artistic spontaneousness to take its course. Patches of colour, lines, and structures, are the accidental and immediate expression of elementary spiritual events and emotionasituations. In these paintings Reiter avoids the detour via landscapes- which is a path of re– flection and planning. He rather relies on his innermost impulse for guidance. This new way has carried Reiter a tremendous distance towards his personal freedom. He setout on it in 1985 in the New York studio of the late US artist Tschakbasow. J ointly with this American »informal« artist Reiter created a large painting at that time »Until our Lives will be again United«. Here again, he found »guidance« through the patriarch of the German »Informel« school, Fritz Winter, who once said: »It takes you more confidence and morepower to showtheinvisible in a free form, than if you keep confirming the visible and comprehensible.«It is not merely a coincidence that the romantieist Friedrich correspondingly states: »A painter should not only paint what he sees araund him, but also what he sees inside himself.« Reiter seems to have this extra confidence and power.His search for form and spirit, origin and destination can be understood from his titles, such as »Birth of a Seed« or »Rocks«. Whoever has followed Reiter on his way through the years as an artist, will recognize the inherent logic and consequence in the coexistence of naturalist, fantastic/visionary and informal paintings. The artist confesses his personal conviction that a human being must find his »path to truth« in himself, perhaps even without any help from outside. In his »Wild« paintings Reiter reveals much of his own self. He even takes the risk of being rejected or not understood by those who rely on external »Order« because they are unable to cope with the disorder inside themselves. To express fear, loneliness, grief, and pain in the way Reiter can, is a proof of self– confidence strong enough to enable him to question the world over and over again. The dialogue continues. The signals sent out by this restless man, are not lost unheard in the cosmos - which is both a privilege and a burden. Helga Boss-Stenner Bad Homburg, 1992