De Es Schwertberger
Heavy Light

July 7 2019

De Es Schwertberger (born Dieter Schwertberger, 1942, Austria) studied the painting technique of the old masters in Vienna under Ernst Fuchs.
Over more than fifty years of creating, Schwertberger’s themes and painting style evolve continuously. The path led from a figurative fantastic realism to an almost abstract, process-like creative flow. The early metaphors explored existential human conditions, the later ones showed basic planetary patterns and the entangled thread of life.

My selection here focuses mainly on his Stone Period, because it speaks to me most deeply. I remember feeling like one of his stone men during meditation. I was transformed into an immovable and incredibly heavy stone buddha.

Some earlier works (before 1970)