Exhibition
Olaf Wegewitz
straight ahead
04.03.2014 -
09.06.2014
On foot on the 11th degree of longitude through Germany
Painting, texts, photos and drawings, 2009/2013
Some decisions need a spontaneous idea and then thorough preparation. When Olaf Wegewitz (born 1949 in Schönebeck, lives in Huy-Neinstedt) set out with his grown-up son in July 2009 to hike through Germany from north to south, this idea had to come up for many weeks every day on the routes of over 50 Kilometres and became a life experience. From Fehmarn, on the coast, the two actually made it to the Zugspitze over the summer.
Olaf Wegewitz, Geradewegs. Zu Fuß durch Deutschland (detail), 2011-13
Olaf Wegewitz, Geradewegs. Zu Fuß durch Deutschland, 2011-13, 100 m scroll painting
Olaf Wegewitz, known for his wonderfully ingenious, hand-made artist's books and double-sided coloured drawings, decided after this trip to return to painting and capture the impressions that were still awake in a picture 100 meters long. A wooden frame with two rollers on top of each other was created for this. During the three years of creation of the painting, it was wound from the upper to the lower roll, whereby only a section of about 3 meters of canvas was visible at a time. The creation of the picture follows the migration. You can never see the entire route, the view only extends to the horizon. The exhibition shows this special painting and numerous drawings, photographs, notes on the route of 1,340 kilometres in 35 days, along nature and civilization by Olaf and Lienhard Wegewitz.