Martin R. Wohlwend

Oil Pastels on Canvas
140 x 180 cm 

Acrylic and Graphite on Canvas
140 x 180 cm 

Graphite on Canvas
180 x 140 cm 

Acrylic and Graphite on Canvas
160 x 120 cm 

Graphite on Canvas
120 x 160 cm 

Graphite on Canvas
160 x 120 cm 

Graphite on Canvas
120 x 160 cm 

Graphite on Canvas
70 x 110 cm 

Oil Pastels on Canvas
120 x 160 cm 

Acrylic and Oil Pastels on Canvas
160 x 120 cm 

Mixed Media on Canvas
90 x 165 cm 

Acrylic on Canvas
160 x 120 cm

Solitary Confinement is a tribute to the Yaran, the seven friends in Iran that were arrested and imprisoned simply for believing in the unity of humanity, of religion and of God. They are Baha'is and have been held in prison for more than 3 years serving a 20 year sentence.

153 x 214 cm
Mixed Media on Canvas

Divorce tells the story of my divorce and my struggle to cope with that reality.

Acrylic on Canvas
244 x 153 cm

"Turbulentus" represents the turbulent world and time we live in as a society. Man as a colossal organism in motion that cannot be stopped, destroying everything in its path.

Acrylic on Canvas
275 x 122 cm

During my Arts & Consciousness studies at John F. Kennedy University in Berkeley, California, I created a piece called "Dual Manifestation of Man". It dealt with the dual nature of man being physical and spiritual. There are references in the background to the world of nature. In the foreground we see the surrealistic/spiritual world. There's a figure hidden in the painting, the head of which is active with thoughts contemplating the universe. A white stream of thought emanates from the brain creating the borderline between the natural and spiritual world. Man, being the only being on our planet equipped with an intellectual mind, is the only being capable of abstract/metaphorical thinking. To the left is an observer contemplating the reality of man. The canvas is split in two. The top half representing the intellectual and bottom part the animalistc nature of man.

Acrylic on Canvas
214 x 153 cm

The following year I created a piece called "The Mirror". I used mixed media, a collage in the background, black and white images, exclusively from a German magazine called 'The Mirror' (Der Spiegel). All images deal with war and conflict, abuse and hate, genocide and famine. In the front, I painted a figure whose head is being cut off, but the head is not a regular head, the head is made up of green leaves, thus representing nature. Behind the figure are those huge red lips that are a representation for all the 'ass kissing' (pardon my french) that's going on around the world. Above you have two windows of hope, one is the intellectual window, the other one the spiritual window. Both windows can provide enlightenment and thus, hope for a better future. To the center right and left are office buildings with only one image each. To the right is an image of an office, but the office has been abandoned, and there's only an empty desk, meaning, nobody really cares or wants to take on the responsibility for all this mess. To the left is an image of three monkeys that don't hear, speak, or see. The figure is standing in a pool made up of another collage representing body builders. Note that they are in color vs black and white. A reference to the superficiality of today's society. There's a river rushing down from the intellectual window. The influx of knowledge, but it loses itself in the pool of superficiality. The windows are connected through clouds, suggesting that the intellectual and spiritual worlds should work together. Humanity hasn't quite tapped into that spiritual resource, but is about to.

Acrylic and Oil on Canvas
183 x 183 cm

Here's a piece that I decided to leave finished in a state of chaos. There are several layers to this painting. The first layers, in acrylic, representing the eye of the beholder, and various geometrical shapes and forms, even some formulas out of some physics book. The piece was left in that state for six months, due to my independent study in China. China shook up my perception of the world and all the theories that came with it. Upon my return I decided to paint over all those previous notions I had about the world and, but then decided to scrape off sections of oil paint in order to see what I left behind.

Acrylic on Canvas
244 x 153 cm

"The Seer" is one of the only paintings which didn't follow the rules and the process of chaos and order. I meditated for about an hour before I stood up and went to draw the lines which laid down the foundation and layout for the composition. Drawing the lines was a matter of seconds, nevertheless, it took me about three months to finish.

Acrylic on Canvas
244 x 153 cm

The painting which succeeded "The Temptation of Technology" was "The Search for Truth". It inherited the process of its forerunner, which was to start off with creating chaos by letting paint, heavily diluted with water, run down the canvas over and over again until I found it was enough to start organizing it. Forms and shapes were then generally and gradually molded from the existing chaos. Only at the very end, I would set elements and shapes consciously to finish off the piece. This process, from chaos to order, from unconscious to conscious, became the standard procedure for almost all of the paintings that followed.

Acrylic on Canvas
214 x 122 cm

This is how it all started. I was a third year student at the San Francisco Art Institute, when I was working on a little painting called "The Journey of the Soul". My teacher, Franklin Williams, ask me what I was painting. I told him what the title was and explained to him how the title was reflected in the painting. Franklin looked at my painting and said: "It's crap!" I was shocked and asked: "Why?". He replied: "Because, it looks like a painting by Salvador Dali. The world doesn't need another Salvador Dali. The world needs Martin Wohlwend. If you want to do a painting about the soul, why don't you build a life-size canvas, stand naked in front of a big mirror and start painting yourself. Maybe in that interaction you'll get in touch with your soul, and then see what happens." My jaw dropped and all I could think was that I came to the right school. That's the kind of boldness I would expect from a great teacher. I agreed and didn't hesitate. I grabbed the little Dali look-alike painting and threw it in the trash, built a life-size canvas and went at it like a mad man, albeit, i didn't get naked and I didn't use a mirror, instead I meditated every day before I continued to paint. Approx. four months later "Temptation of Technology" was completed. Franklin looked at the painting, looked at me, looked at the painting again, took a while to think, then looked at me again and said: "Now I lost you. I expected you to do baby steps, but you went to another realm. I can't follow you there. You're on your own." And he left it at that.