Dieter Appelt: Sound Fields

About

Appelt, who in previous years was mainly known for his photographs, has been working intensively in the medium of drawing during the last few years. In his metrically-structured ink drawings, fine, floating lines condense rhythmically into vortices and clouds, which are superimposed and arranged by highlights in color that take the shape of dots or cuboids. Music has always played an important role in Appelt's life. Therefore it can possibly be claimed that it is through his drawings that the trained musician and singer today makes music. The underlying grid of horizontal and vertical lines dictates the reading of the score. The open and at the same time regular arrangement of colored accents and blanks sets the rhythm. Stratifications and condensations can be read as dynamics, as crescendos and decrescendos. Appelt's drawings require musical interpretation as individual notations. Two of the drawings were premiered in a concert given by the Berliner Sonar Quartet at the Akademie der Künste in 2018.