Die schwarze Sonne 2013

Curator: We're looking at "Die schwarze Sonne" by Siegfried Zademack, painted in 2013. It’s a surreal landscape that feels instantly symbolic. Editor: My immediate feeling is… unsettling beauty. The beach scene is so realistically rendered, almost photographic, but then you have this figure weighed down, connected to a kind of… caged dark sun? It evokes feelings of melancholy. What are we really looking at here in terms of materials? It appears to be a painting. Curator: Indeed, the artwork is done using paint. It marries realism with what the AI tags describe as “fantasy art”. The meticulous brushwork creates palpable textures in the sand, water, even the fabric draped over the burdened figure. But those dark, hefty weights look awfully uniform... as if machine-made, mass-produced. What’s your sense of their purpose? Editor: Perhaps Zademack is using these elements to explore weight—physical, emotional, societal. The industrial look of the weights contrasts with the natural setting, which gives a nice insight on man versus nature that has been debated since humans could write. But how are we supposed to respond when presented with such dark and weighty themes? Curator: Well, Zademack never shies away from confronting shadow. The painting reminds us of the invisible forces bearing down on us. Maybe, this weight is not something entirely negative. Suffering, struggle, the acceptance of pain are necessary to transcend into something higher, greater. A very Zen philosophy depicted through unsettling surrealism. Editor: It seems to offer up so much on just the surface level. There is always so much weight placed upon one another, yet everyone bears this great weight on their own. The fact this character is walking it alone makes a beautiful point of contention. So there’s a meditation in that bleakness too, it’s complex. It makes you wonder what materials the artist drew upon, besides the canvas, to convey such intricate feelings. Curator: Perhaps, “Die schwarze Sonne” acts as a somber reminder—one about navigating the shadows within, using the burdens we bare to ultimately discover that radiant inner light. Editor: Indeed. Zademack makes visible what is so often unseen and unfelt. Materially, emotionally, psychologically. Food for thought—or perhaps, in this case, fuel for feeling.