If I ask a crowd of people what the difference is between Frida Kahlo and Putin, I probably won’t get any answers but silence and amused looks. In other words, expressions that can turn into laughter or demonstrative eye-rolls in anticipation of a flat joke.
If I ask the same question out into the cosmos, I will get a very similar reaction. However, in the second case, the silence is vacuum-induced, perpetual and far less funny. Because for our universe (the visible part of which contains 70 trillion sun-like stars) Frida and Vladimir are completely equal, furthermore equally insignificant! The basic idea for my portrait series with the corresponding title „Space Forgets Everybody“ is derived from this very principle of cosmic indifference. Here I portray various personalities with watery ink and exhibit them in randomly composed groups. In this way, historical figures of light appear on the wall alongside serial killers, professional athletes alongside dictators and actors alongside politicians on an unusually equal footing. Due to the special painting technique, their faces appear fleeting, in the process of dissolving, but still just identifiable to the viewer. Due to the lack of thematic cohesion, their common denominator is ultimately reduced to the human condition and its transience. The universe forgets us all, regardless of who we are or were when we were alive.
