In dem beschaulichen Eifelstädtchen sitzt eine Künstlerin im dem Erker des historischen Hauses mit Blick über die Rur und zeichnet in ihr großes Skizzenbuch. Aber schon bei der ersten Seite, auf der sie ihr Leben in Bildern zu erzählen beginnt, entfließt der Zeichenfeder eine unheimliche Geschichte.
In dem Haifischbecken der Kunstszene versucht sich die Frau allen Widrigkeiten zum Trotz zu etablieren, die die Gesellschaft und ihr Geschlecht einer Karriere in den Weg stellen. Auch wenn sie nicht schwimmen kann, kämpft sie um ihr Leben, um den Kopf über Wasser zu halten.
Erste Erfolgen wechseln mit Gewalt und Niederlagen. Noch ruft niemand „Me Too“, wenn eine Frau geschlagen wird. Als sie sich zu wehren beginnt, gelingt es ihr, festen Stand in ihrem Leben zu gewinnen. Jetzt wird sie sich den Gewässern, auch denen des Unbewussten, stellen. Aber wie gelingt es einer Kupferstecherin, die ein Leben lang versuchte, ihren Mann zu stehen und doch keiner war, ihren Weg unbehelligt durch die Fluten von Hass und Missgunst zu finden?
Nobody has ever written about painting in this way before.
Many words are lost every day about painting and the fine arts, but what really happens when painters dip their brushes into the paint behind the closed studio door remains unsaid. In her novel “The Kisses of Colours”, Maf Räderscheidt, painter, draughtswoman, graphic artist and performer, solves the mystery of what goes on inside a painter when he is at work.
For meanwhile 50 years, Maf Räderscheidt has been a fixture in the German art scene. A master student at the Cologne Werkschulen, she impressed with small-format etchings in the 1970s, then devoted herself to charcoal drawings, video art and installations, before finally concentrating mainly on oil painting and watercolour today. For many years, she has been posting a picture a day on the internet and spreading it on social networks – her share in the “social sculpture” of modern, digital society. In 2018, she received the Horst Konejung Prize, which, in addition to her rich oeuvre, also recognised her political and social commitment.
In “The Kisses of Colours”, Räderscheidt describes a day in her studio in the Eifel in a language that is as multifaceted as it is inventive. She explicitly describes the challenge that a large canvas poses to her skills, she describes the craft. And she also speaks about the history of art, which always finds its way into her thinking. The experienced painter gives the reader an insight into her world of thoughts, into her passion and determination, but also into her fears and defeats. Maf Räderscheidt paints with words as well as with brushes. Her vivid descriptions of the act of painting are captivating.
When the painter ends her literary day, one painting will have been started, a second finished, a watercolour made and an exhibition opened. For the artist, a normal day. For the reader, an excursion into an unknown world, into a dimension of creating and creating that usually remains closed to him. “The Art of Kissing” unravels a corner of the mystery that lies over the creation of fine art.
Who would have thought: hiking is the new trend sport! In our highly technical times, to lace up our hiking boots and to go out into the open air on shoemaker’s centime is more topical than ever. This makes hiking the high school of personalized deceleration. Everyone chooses his or her own tempo, yes, each becomes his or her own tempo. The Eifel is a hiking area par excellence. Here, where the Eifelverein maintains a dense network of well-signposted paths, modern hikers of the digital age have also found their way with GPS and trekking shoes.
“Wandervögel” is a cheerful homage to nature, nature lovers and exercise in the fresh air. In a unique combination of landscape photos, illustrations and witty phrases, Maf Räderscheidt and Stephan Everling have given free rein to their imagination and show the Eifel and its lovers as you have never seen them before.
A real Rhinelander can be recognized immediately by his unmistakable lingual impact. But what do you really know about him? What are the secret rituals and rules on the banks of the ancient German river? The successful artist MAF Räderscheidt and the journalist Stephan Everling use about 120 watercolours and lyrics to create their very own picture of the Rhineland and the people between Mainz and Worringen, Aachen and Cologne, which always focuses on the river.
The successful artist MAF Räderscheidt and the well-known crime novelist Stephan Everling make a personal declaration of love to the Sauerland and the Sauerland region with about 120 watercolours and hidden texts. They tell of gunner’s and topping-out ceremonies, unshakeable tranquillity and a unique talent for improvisation, lived tradition and a great openness to new things and visitors. The unique interplay of the sometimes delicate, sometimes colourful, sometimes idyllic and sometimes drastic watercolours by MAF Räderscheidt with the pointed and entertaining texts by Stephan Everling captures the fascination of the Sauerland in their entire range: an ideal gift for all those who love the Sauerland.
Eifel is a question of position. A cosmos in its own right, with completely different rules from the inside than from the outside. Those who are not familiar with the sometimes bizarre peculiarities of the people between Aachen and Koblenz, between Cologne and Trier, rob themselves of the true Eifel pleasure.
With a delicate brush stroke and pointed pen, MAF Räderscheidt and Stephan Everling approach the people in their adopted country, clear up prejudices and reveal what constitutes the Eifeler. A signpost for the first contact and a declaration of love to Germany’s Wild West.
What does a monstrous, fat detective, drunk and premenstrual, have to do with a woman couple from the Marienburger Schickeria? Does she combine the love for a sluggish, sleepy dog or the search for a lazy man? Why don’t the shoes say what they want, how do you cheer up a depressive radio astronomer in the zone of gender imponderables, where can you hide Rottweiler, and how do you get to long-sold out carnival sessions?
It’s a good thing that a trip to Düsseldorf and a less gifted pantomime doesn’t leave any questions unanswered, because in the end it’s probably only certain that Maria Petronella will be against it, but that’s not surprising either. On the palette of subculture between the art scene and the animal shelter, the actors meet for a fabulous showdown at the Rosa Session.
