Der flüchtige Moment

Harri, 2011

Angela Stauber
A series of drawings, pencil on paper, 16 x 20 cm

‘Der flüchtige Moment’ is a series of approximately 50 drawings that offer a glimpse into a rare and elusive moment. These drawings are of the places, people and things that I have found in the neighborhood around Thulestraße. The images reveal not only the subject but they reveal how I perceive and experience the world around me. These drawings have a quality that exists somewhere between the instant that can be captured in photographic images and the prolonged moment that can be drawn.

The pictures are of specific places and moments in time. They are perspectives of the streets and houses near Thulestraße, as well as portraits of the people who work in the neighborhood. There is a quality in the drawings that is both documentary and that evokes atmosphere. My pictures are about love, pain and the moment that slips constantly from within our grasp (impermanence). The drawings are about stillness, and about time – time which is lost, but also about living each moment to its fullest.

I have attempted in these drawings to unite place and time. The poetic arises. It is poetry about places which can be found everywhere but that are unique. Places can be documents of the past, but they can also be timeless, meaning there is nothing left of trends or fashion of any particular period. Trees in the wind are typical of Berlin, but they are also eternal or even sentimental images. These drawings are at once reproductions and interpretations. I ‘correct’ reality with my pencil. What I see, feel, receive becomes an image with a certain mystery. I don’t invent anything in my pictures. I am in a constant dialog with what is around me. During this conversation, I feel like a filter, where what I see goes through and flows into the picture but comes out more clearly and sharpened. Everyday life, short moments impress me and traces of them remain in my pictures.