"Oh, How Clumsy"
by Klaus Strubelview biographyAcademic Painter of Fine Art / Art Historian
We are in a historic deep, cool and airy wine cellar of a
European Monastery in the 19th century.
The Brothers set the mile stone in the history of winemaking. In the late 18th and mainly in the 19th
century, their wine products became so popular, that they sold them to the public too. Further more, they established their own market booth in the
weekly farmers’ market place which in those times was the event of the week where the villagers from all around could meet.
This time it was
Brother Peter’s turn to sell the wine at the market, so he went into the cellar to pick up the carry basket full of freshly filled wine bottles. But
oh, - he missed a step, tripped and found himself sitting at the bottom of the steps next to the puddle of wine and the broken bottles.
Brother
John in the background, who was busy filling more wine bottles turns to Brother Peter looking rather astonished and cries out “Oh, how clumsy!”,
keeping back an amused smile for as good as he can, while behind him, however, the good fine wine runs out of the wine cask down the drain because the
startled Brother John forgot to close the tap.
“My, how clumsy!”
While I was university student in Germany, I also studied Art History
and traveled through Europe to visit historic landmarks, museums, cathedrals and famous monasteries. I often took the opportunity to rent a boarding
room in some of the famous monasteries because you could learn so much about the history and the various fields of expertise, - especially the one
that fascinated me: The making of wine and champagne.
For ages, the brothers in their different orders have represented the highest level of
culture. They were the keepers of science, education, inventions, literature, fine art, music and developers of world famous champagne and excellent
wines.
During wine tasting in their cellars, I was surrounded by historic tools and equipment, hand carved casks and had wonderful talks with
the cellarers.
These lasting impressions inspired me to preserve certain situations in the life of the Masters of Winemaking.
The play
of the feature in my works tells whole stories. Each mime in their faces, their gestures, their hands and fingers and many more details, bring life
into these captured moments. Now and then, I inject a little touch of humor in circumstances of their life; after all, they are only human.
The
artistic quality of my painting contains historic details and authentic tools the winemakers worked with.
I want my paintings to be
entertaining, conversational pieces for the art collectors and at the same time to be very
decorative.