Hypernormal

With the freedom to be professionally and financially independent, art is the pursuit in life that stays with me. This raised the question of what art is. One. which hardly anyone asks. The answer is very simple. I’m an artist and I make art because I don’t do anything else. After thousands of pictures I have form, color and effect under control, cultivate expedition, contemplation and inspiration and consider psychology, philosophy and last but not least physics (optics).

Being an artist is more faith than talent, a choice. It is important to define and organize the (remaining) time. Thought and action must not be subject to any purpose or goal. It is nice that a shamanic aura surrounds you, which brings benevolence and consideration with it. It is known from ancient times that everything is hidden and covered, I can do nothing about it. So I use it. The freedom that results from the attempt to uncover is irrational or absurd, that’s how my pictures have to be. It is irrelevant whether I work in the classic way or use digital preparation or AI tools (artificial intelligence), the implementation remains classic after analogue transfer to the medium and is still subject to the creative process.

As a libertarian agent of knowledge and system laboratory technician, I came across a term in my efforts to get to the point: Hypernormal. Hypernormal is a psychological term that describes a personality that tries very hard to appear normal. The term is also used in mathematics and describes a matrix. Hypernormal can be the never-existent, infinitely ambiguous mediocrity or a captivating parallel world. Ultimately, the term describes an irrational state of knowledge about and one’s own behavior in a society, a fake society. In addition to the sociological and mathematical aspects, there are also medical and some culturally relevant aspects.

With this art direction I do justice to the post-truth era that we are all moving towards. I don’t want to counteract the causes, nor do I think it’s wise to try. My art is a provocative general reckoning with the insanity that we experience in politics, business, religion and society and that is inherent in every individual, and has always been.

It has been proven that intelligence and creativity go hand in hand, even if this results in an anarchist worldview. There lurks the danger of being caught up in my claim, of being afraid of overdoing my claim. But as long as confusion and habit are replaced by indifference and courage, it’s “okay” for me.

In the sense mentioned above, my pictures from 2015 are not realistic but normal, hypernormal; don’t trust them.

Art is not decoration but explanation. Art is a business, a highly absurd business.

Hypernormality applies in times of [before a | as an indicator of a] system change[s].

Jens H. Westermann