*for the grüss gott magazine fall/winter 2024 issue i was asked to look into the subject of angels. i had the pleasure to work on a collage artwork series for the leading page & follow up pages. there is a variety of delineations of angels out there – infinite representations of this figures through the centuries. when it comes to theology there is a specific classification of angels themselves. they are hard to capture – in memorandums or pictures. in terms of content their common sense also overarching religions might be that they are messengers in between heaven & earth. sicut in caelo et in terra. beside having a message – maybe they are the allegory of the ones who listen truly when we are silent. not hearing the words we speak, more the soul beyond all the meaningless. alongside my idea & lots of hypotheses how they might appear or look like, most of this is imprinted & handed on images. there is a blooming commercial market when it comes to angels as well – might not be for the good. market will always catch people in their craving & longing. i remember myself that as a kid i had an image of a cute kitchy little guarding angel next to my bed. i liked to look at it. beside all the playful imagery around angels, i am really fascinated by seraphims, archangels, cherubs & of course the fallen angels. as this subject catches me also the 9 choirs of angels with the natural forces. so if you have the feeling there are some fishes in the sky & on earth. some things are out of gravity, or in overwhelming metamorphose, i hardly disagree. so to find the point for the leading page i went with an etching of archangel michael by joan berwinckel after maerten de vos (1708). for the follow up pages with 3 seraphims by françois van bleyswijck (1746), an etching of the jacob’s ladder by august gaber after julius schnorr von carolsfeld (1851). beside that you find an amount of angels through art history, beside beloved bosch, bittoni, frères de limbourg, cabanel, you can also discover otto wagner, kolo moser, paul klee, a visual arnulf rainer quotation. so there are also some more actual hints as some of them are also part of the article. i also was happy to do some pagina decor again, sometimes i love to tell little stories in stories on the edges of paper. for me the greatest joy is to be found in the tiniest things. i know it is repetitive – i am very grateful for this commission of grüss gott magazine & the archdiocese linz. so merci beaucoup & congrats on this issue. ♥︎
head of creative | markus kietreiber
chief editor | wolfgang wieser
art direction | silvia druml-shams
photo editor | matti wulfes
article | wolfgang wieser, alexander müller-macheck
collage artwork | nita.
