Atelierbetriebe R. A. W. Sommers

Indoor voice? “Boy With A Parrot” (various crops for IG) (10 x 16″ gouache with mixed media on paper), part of my solo show “Bruxism” at @thinkspace_art in 2016. #painting #gouache #parrot #timothytheparrot #bluefrontedamazon #niceboy #pitybouttheparrot

I still turn scarlet thinking about the application essay I wrote for University waxing rhapsodic about the still, cold faces of classical sculpture. I’m sure I did not have much of a point. I’m also sure that I did not know at the time they were originally gaily painted like Karneval floats. But hey, these faces and bodies, desaturated or not, still sashay around my work, even when maybe that class on English jurisprudence of the eleventh century doesn’t come up that much. “SPQR”, 10 x 8″ graphite on paper with gesso and cotton thread, 2017. #drawing #graphite #collegeadmissionessay #headoutofcontext #antinous #ozymandias #clamdangit #gesso #holes

Been thinking. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure the most indomitably good vibes are canine. // “Chesapeake” (9 x 12″ gouache with mixed media and collage on paper, mounted on birch panel, 2018.) Featured in LAX/PDX, a 2018 group show curated by @thinkspace_art at @antlerpdx #rottydog #gouache #painting #chesapeake #calvert #crebs #alsodogs #dogsdogsdogs #mixedmedia #clamdangit

I posted a little sneak peek of these b’hoys a while back, so I’m delighted to show you this whole altarpiece! “The Penalties and Privileges of Her Position” (a line cribbed from “Orlando”) is in attendance in the antipodes for “Folk Horror” at @beinartgallery, curated by Indigo Rawson-Smith! I was thinking broadly about the theme of “folk horror” and why so many of us are so attracted to it… and that what we fear tells us a story about who we are. I think it’s rather telling that so many parts of the lush, rich, sensual, (pagan?) world are time and again served to us as something to behold as terrifying… flesh, fecundity, flawless, baby. (Only the hound knows what he protects.) „The Penalties and Privileges of Her Position“, 15.5 x 23.5 cm (6.1" x 9.2") gouache on paper in mixed media paper altarpiece, 2023. Part of “Folk Horror” at @beinartgallery, opening Saturday, May 27th, 6 - 9pm. Also in attendance will be my skellyboi "Death" (20cm x 40cm gouache and mixed media on panel-mounted paper, 2022). #gouache #altarpiece #modernaltar #bhoys #rottydog #folkhorror #mayqueensall #paganpoetry #skullsentinel #idoerr #goatskull #casseiopeia #berlinart #berlinartists #portablealtar #portableart #beinartgallery #florals

Oh baby, we all are gonna learn how to find the glisten in the gristle or we ain’t gonna make it // “Still Life With Double-Holed Lute (All Gardens Lay Fallow)”, 5.5 x 8.5″ gouache on wood-mounted paper, 2018. #gouache #stilllifepainting #bhoy #painting #ruinedorgan #ruinedinstrument #salamiart #berlinart #berlinartists #strategicmeatloaf #badscissors

Stepping gently over a boundary I did not myself lay in the earth; inviting home that which I sent away before I knew its name; finding one sliver of gilded good in the slop bucket around my neck. “Blood Song”, 16cm x 34cm graphite, gouache, acrylic, coloured pencil, ink, and washi tape on watercolour paper, 2023. #sketchbookish #gouache #drawing #washes #berlinart #berlinartists #gilding #teastain #pearls #blood #somuchtosay

I’m so excited to finally show my contribution for @wowxwow_art’s annual “Microvisions” show, opening tomorrow! S/he’s a new friend of mine, one of a crop of gouachewashed weirdos I’ve been coaxing out in the studio. I’ve been trying to focus my energy on what feels good right now. It feels so silly to type that, but for some reason it’s a struggle some days— something in me needs the work to hurt in order to feel like I’m Doing Something. Anyone else? Anyway, for whatever harebrained reason this harebrained-ass year, that’s been a lot of washes, sly painted smiles, and gilded fish scales. Don’t ask me! I’m not in charge here! “God Head”, 19cm x 20cm (7.5” x 7.8”) graphite with mixed media on Hannemühle 425 g/m2 (200 lb) watercolor paper, 2023. #gouache #washes #acrylic #berlinart #berlinartists #wowxwow #microvisions6 #gold #thesearemysaladdays #slowlybeingeatenaway

I am very, very excited about the next Studio 68 Open Studio this Saturday! Come see what we’ve all been up to, pick up some original art, and poke your head behind the curtain! Saturday, April 29, 16:00 - 22:00. Skalitzer 68, 2nd Hinterhof. Y‘ALL COME! #galleryweekendberlin2023 #berlinart #berlinartists #berlinstudio #studio68 #kreuzbergart #supportlivingartists

Recently finished this weirdo, one amongst a few similar drawings that get picked up and left again when one or other experiment calls my name… I always say that winter is the time for rendering, but this Spring I’ve really been feeling soft (in the heart? In the head?) and have been diving deeply into it most days in the studio… more soon. “Peer Review” 60cm x 86cm graphite on Mi-Teintes tinted paper, 2023. #berlinartist #berlinart #graphite #bodies #bhoys #gentleconfusion #vagueclassical #antinous #guts #steps #ihearhashtagsaredead

Ever seeking Antinous… // “The Comfort of That Dark Cave” 29.5cm x 36.5cm graphite on paper study, 2020. Avail, link in profile. #study #drawing #berlinartists #darlingbhoy #unsettlingtimes #onemoretimewithfeeling

Sneak Peek: “The Penalties and Privileges of Her Position” // Ok, I can’t help myself, I recently sent a new little altarpiece off to @beinartgallery for a Very Exciting Show at the end of May (stay tuned!), and I want to show a little sneak peek— this is one panel of the piece, two dancing sibyls, about 3 inches or so wide… Spring is been so very stubborn here, it’s still freezing often overnight and nothing has scarcely more than budded, and I’m finding more florals in my work for some reason, hmm… ((More infos soon!) #berlinart #berlinartists #stillpaint #gouache #sibyls #bhoys #tanzverbot #eternalwinter #youcallity2know #diamondsandpearls #goatskull #florals #teal

Sketchbook // I know it seems like I’ve been gessoing more than drawing these days, but I’ve been… hibernating. Incubating. In my own mind. In no time it will have been a year since I left for a residency and I’m still feeling the shuddering waves of something jerkily awakening in me, new directions, new artist… it’s needed a lot of time to pupate underground, away from the sanitising light. I needed cross-pollinating, fertilising muck and dirt and humus around the work. And that’s meant a lot of sketchbook experimenting. I’m always most at home within those pages, and it’s where the newest birth takes place. It’s where my work tells me where I’m going before I know it. Take a look, maybe you can guess better than I… #sketchbook #drawing #bhoysandbodies #mixedmedia #randomtext #iguessthatslorem #berlinart #berlinartists #wärmflasche #diagnosis