Ralf Arzt

“The aspiration for my creating process is to achieve a feeling of modern photo art in my paintings and through this combine the best of two worlds.
The ability by a photograph to capture the soul and charisma in a specific, unique moment, the painting with its surface, finish, and sense of exclusivity such as the photograph is unable to communicate.”

Ralf Arzts art is foremost inspired by modern photo art, where he moves in the borderland between painting and photography to find his own artistic expression.
His goal is not to create photo realistic art, but an imagery which brings the observer far beyond the world of photography.
Arzt work foremost with figurative motifs, but also creates grand seascapes, which he creates both as modern graphic prints as well as more traditional oils on canvas.
In his creating process, Arzt’s method differ from the more typical approach where an artist’s graphic prints most often are made up as reproductions from the original in oil or aquarelle.
Arzt begins with the graphic print, and he uses the latest techniques within digital printing technology to, through digital tools, manually build the files which becomes the foundation of his artworks;

”I always create my graphic works as originals, never as reproductions of my other original works.
The modern digital technologies which I use allow me to create realistic graphic works of art. Given the extreme diversity of colour and tone offered by these technologies, it would not be possible to achieve these results with lithography or other traditional printing techniques.”

The labor of the digital originals is a very time-consuming process and is not much dissimilar from how an original lithograph is made, even though the technique is different.
The quality and sustainability is also very high for this graphic technique which is termed pigment prints. The artworks are classified original graphic artworks by trade associations, leading market operators and museums, which is of great importance to Arzt, not least for the value of the artworks but foremost because the work method is in line with the industry’s demand for the artworks to be classified as original graphic art.
Another aspect of the digital process which draws Arzt, apart from the outstanding results the modern technologies allows, is that this artform is absolutely contemporary;

“Apart from the high quality the technology gives my works, I am very appealed and inspired by the fact that previous generations of artists did not have access to these technologies. This means that, despite centuries of artistic creation, I have had the opportunity to create graphic works of art that are unique to my time.”

This highly modern creative process makes a significant contrast to Arzt’s other creative process in which he, with his graphical prints as originals, recreates his motifs as oil paintings using classical and traditional painting techniques dating back to the antique art forms.
In order to recreate the feel of photorealistic motifs in his oil paintings Arzt once again uses advanced and time-consuming techniques where he builds his motifs in several layers without any trace of the brushstrokes. The finish and details, as well as the depth and lustre is enhanced through shumring and traditional glazing techniques, which both requires extensive experience and skill to master the level of quality in Arzt’s paintings.

“My aim is to create contemporary, figurative painting that belongs in the here and now.
For me art is a thing of beauty, but even if the women I paint are very beautiful, I cannot profess to putting beauty at the forefront. It is all about capturing the soul, charisma and mysticism in a given moment of a fleeting situation and being able to relate this emotion to others.“

Arzt’s work is realistic but in a varying degree of bareness.
Notably his ‘nudes’ have a bareness such as only the necessities remain to maintain the realistic expression.
With a vast knowledge of the human anatomy in combination with his unique techniques, Arzt creates finely tuned paintings with a beauty and perfect balance, technically advanced but fantastically uncomplicated.

Ralf Arzt, born in Stockholm, showed an early interest in art and began painting already in his early teens. He began his artist career as an autodidact, but commenced studies in France under Beaux Arts teacher Christian Geai in 1996-1997.
Arzt has since 1998 cooperated with international Opera Gallery, and is since 2012 represented in London by Albemarle Gallery and since 2010 by Mollbrinks konst in Sweden.
Through his cooperations, Arzt has participated in and been represented at numerous group and solo exhibitions as well as prominent art fairs in Sweden and worldwide.