207 - ROBERT SCHNEIDER

ROBERT SCHNEIDER (1944 Buchheim (Breisgau) – 2021 Hamburg) OEL 5, 1999 Acrylic on canvas. 145 x 224 cm. Framed. Signed and dated lower right. Titled, medium specified, signed, and dated on the reverse. Robert Schneider grew up on a small farm and left home at an early age. In the 1960s, he traveled throughout Europe and discovered art; after initial forays into poetry and theater, he decided to pursue painting. Via Freiburg, Frankfurt, and Düsseldorf, he arrived in Hamburg, where he lived and worked until his death. Schneider’s works were on view in 2021 in the exhibition “Modern Times: Industry Through the Lens of Painting and Photography” at the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg. This work is part of a series of oil paintings that emerged from study trips to Azerbaijan. The view extends across an oil field to the horizon, where hundreds of drilling rigs converge to form a grid. In the foreground lies a field of debris consisting of rusty pieces of sheet metal, cables, and a broken concrete pipe; behind it are black pools in which the derricks are reflected. Halfway up, low barracks—one with a red roof and a glass front—stand next to corrugated-iron shacks with laundry hanging out to dry. Schneider paints the pool of oil with the same attention to detail as the cloudy sky, and the yellow band remains ambiguous, suspended between evening light and the glow of fire. The painting derives its impact from this duality: it depicts a devastated landscape without making it appear ugly, leaving the interpretation to the viewer. The artist himself noted that his paintings were “not intended to take away hope.”