Lot 552 D

'I try to snatch a piece of the continuum of history whilst flying by, without stopping the flight. When I am sitting in a plane and see the landscape flying away, I don't have the whole of it in view, but impressions which remind me of a particular constellation of hills. This is how it is with history as well. Because of the complexity of the historical continuum I can't record all of it, just fragments. One can only get close to history by capturing single moments. Through a process of selection I examine what is important for me and which can be left out again. […] When I try to get closer to history from the point of view of the painter, I have to find a method which will later give me and the viewer the feeling that this form of processing of history is only possible in painting'. (Heribert C.Ottersbach in conversation with Eckhart Gillen, in: Klaus Honnef (ed.), Heribert C. Ottersbach, Wider die Vollendung, exhib.cat. Rheinisches Landmuseum, Bonn and Galerie der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig, Bramsche 1993, pp. 41/42).