A Private Universe of Colour

A fascination for the light and colour that bathes the Algarve in all its moods and seasons is the driving force behind the recent abstract paintings of Christine A Vontz. The sky at sunset, a field ablaze with yellow flowers in spring, the formal patterns on the trunk of a tree, the aerial view of a patchwork landscape from an aeroplane are among the multitude of impressions that spark her imagination. But the colour and form in her large paintings is freed from the burden of narration and description to allow the colour to ‘sing’ as a medium for expressing emotion. Her paintings, in other words, recreate the original emotion experienced in front of nature rather than depicting the subject in representational form.

Christine, who lives and works at her villa near Praia da Luz overlooking the sea, said: “I love the light and colours that you can experience in the Algarve which can literally take your breath away it is so beautiful, especially in the spring and summer. “You get up in the morning, for example, and look out at the dawn sky and it isn’t orange or grey it is a marvellous pink, or you go in the fields in springtime and see a riot of colour in the flowers. It is a very exhilarating experience."

“Yellow seems to dominate my vision in the spring and in the summer it is red and blue.”  Her approach to painting is not entirely liberated from external constraints. She spends many hours recording her sensations in front of nature with sketches, notes and poetry.  In the studio she paints always to the music of her favourite classical composers.

Her passion for the emotional and expressive power of colour reached a level of maturity when she and her husband Christian went to live in New York  in 1968 where she cultivated her love of art as a student at Manhattanville College in Purchase.  New York was an important turning point in her development as an artist. She focused on the techniques of painting and became acquainted with the work of the American Abstract Expressionist painters such as Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Adolf Gottlieb, Jules Olitski and many others. It was Clyfford Still who made the biggest impact on her style and philosophy.
The couple were also living in California, which Christine likens to the Algarve in terms of  its appeal to artists. The intensity of colour in her works reflects her impressions of  life there as well as her extensive travels throughout the Mediterranean region and South Africa.

The recent large canvasses, often measuring 180x120cms, are worked mainly in acrylic with a palette knife, though sometimes a mixture of both acrylic and oil paint. They provoke a wide range of sensations in the eye of the beholder who is often invited to discover his or her own universe within the symphony of colour and form that expresses the lyricism and impressions of its creator.  Born in Duisburg in 1936, Christine A Vontz grew up in the Rhineland and after her formal education worked for several years as a teacher.  She has lived in Portugal since 1997 and has exhibited recent work in the Deutsche Bank, Madrid, Spain and the Centro Cultural Lagos, Algarve. She is also a member of  Arte Algarve movement.