Judith Samen – Come Closer

Dr. Stephan Mann, for the exhibition catalog *come closer*—Niederrheinischer Kunstverein, 2019

When I look at Judith Samen’s photographs, my thoughts drift to familiar images from times long past. I look at two paintings from the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, whose subjects have been etched into my visual memory since my earliest youth.

The first is a rather small—and all the more precious for it—painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. It depicts a portrait of the young English nobleman Simon Georges of Cornwall in stern profile. He holds a red carnation between the thumb and index finger of his right hand. On his beret, one can see a brooch depicting the ancient myth of Leda and the swan.

The second painting, a work as small as it is exceptionally valuable, is the so-called “Little Garden of Paradise,” created around 1410–1420 in the Upper Rhine region. In a truly incredible miniature painting, the unknown artist depicts a garden teeming with flowers and animals in the style of the *hortus conclusus*.

As different as these two paintings may be, they have one thing in common: the significance of the flowers, which here represent more than a mere naturalistic depiction of the world. Both painters are aware of the deep symbolic meaning of their motifs, which have evolved as iconography within a long pictorial tradition in Western painting. The carnation, for example, as a symbol and sign of fidelity, or the lily of the valley at the feet of Mary in the “Paradise Garden” as a symbol of humility. The Upper Rhine “Paradise” painting, in particular, is filled with symbolic allusions. The close fusion of pictorial motif and theology transforms the painting into a painted sermon. Nature was not an end in itself for a master painter, but rather served the theological message and proclamation. A more or less strict iconography made the works intelligible and opened a window to reality for the artists.

Given this thematic framework, the clarity of the paintings left little room for interpretation. Despite being depicted anonymously, the saints could be identified, and the characteristics of the biblical figures were clearly discernible. Added to this was a strict color palette that bound the painters and was familiar to the audience.

In the exhibition “Come closer,” featuring works by Judith Samen, we encounter large-format photographs whose subjects may evoke late-medieval painting. There sits a little boy, clad only in white underwear, on a throne-like chair draped in red. He looks directly into the camera. With his hands, he holds a small vase of flowers containing a lily of the valley in his lap.

If one were to rely on late-medieval iconography to uncover the meaning of the image, one would undoubtedly be led astray. Since the artist offers no further clues—not even a title for the work—the viewer is left entirely to their own devices.

Judith Samen’s photographs play with the viewer’s imagination. She places her subject matter in a space of interpretation that can be filled only by the viewer. It is up to the viewer alone to approach the image, enter into a dialogue, and allow themselves to be drawn into the infinite trails of thought that unfold. In Judith Samen’s work, iconography becomes a game. What is supposedly unambiguous is set free into the realm of thought and ambiguity.

Unlike the painter Max Beckmann, who developed his own deeply personal iconography in his painting and compositions and repeatedly references it meaningfully in his own works, Judith Samen eschews such a biographical narrative. As a result, her visual motifs are closer to Surrealism. They are drawn from the everyday world; they seem meaningful yet remain entirely self-contained. This ranges from beautiful embroidery, finely draped fabrics, and garments to composed depictions of children, women, or men who defy all ideals of beauty and social norms. She sometimes takes the absurdity to the extreme, leaving the viewer with great uncertainty and a desire for clarification. Yet the artist eludes this all-revealing narrative. Judith Samen releases the viewer of her images into a freedom that can undoubtedly be exhausting. She challenges us, and the intense dialogue with the motifs in her paintings compels us to take a stand, demands that we form an opinion. In doing so, Judith Samen also points to what art is—or can be—today. After a long journey of emancipation from social, theological, or political entanglements, the art of our time grants us a space of freedom. It creates a resonant space that only we are capable of setting in motion. The dialogue with the artwork can be something special because it invites the viewer to look beyond the work and return to themselves. “Come closer” is thus the artist’s wish in this exhibition. Whether we accept the invitation, however—whether we truly wish to approach the realities of Judith Samen and expose ourselves to them—remains our own free choice. It is thus, once again, a plea for the artist’s freedom, but also for the viewer’s freedom—beyond all the preconceived opinions and clever insights with which art is overloaded in our digital age.

Stephan Mann