Nils Ben Brahim. In den Seilen

The paintings in the exhibition "In den Seilen" primarily show wrestlers in competition and their spectators. Nils Ben Brahim has been interested in wrestling for a long time. In the paintings of the exhibition he wants to point out the contradictions between appearance and reality, which for him come to light in this show combat sport. In particular, the clear separation between good and bad in the fight opposed to the shades of gray in real life and the staging of the fighters as characters without everyday problems, which contrasts with their often unglamorous real lives, are themes that Nils Ben Brahim has observed during his engagement with wrestling and takes up in the paintings. For Nils Ben Brahim, the colorful show character of wrestling and the clearly assigned roles that go along with it form a sort of parallel world in which the multi-layered nuances of our everyday lives are suspended. Nils Ben Brahim sees in these contradictions many parallels to real life outside the world of wrestling, which is often characterized by insecurities.

"For wrestlers and many of my friends, art seems to be a means of dealing with this precarious situation and finding a way out." (Nils Ben Brahim)

When working on the works in the exhibition, it was important for Nils Ben Brahim to have a certain amount of painterly scope in order to capture his personal view and the complexity of the subject matter. The bodies in the paintings of the exhibition are built up with thin layers of egg tempera, which Nils Ben Brahim has scraped off again or wiped away in certain places. Further layers are created by thick coats of oil paint, for example in hair, jewelry or bandages, which appear abstract up close and only gain precision with distance.

"These layers are meant to clarify my view of the many dimensions of wrestling and allow viewers to examine the subject matter from different angles. From the scratched layers of paint that make the white canvas visible, to the elaborate details, to the abstraction. In doing so, I want to stimulate different emotions in the people viewing the paintings." (Nils Ben Brahim)