Jurgen
Geier
I
was born in 1963 in Bietigheim-Bissingen, near Stuttgart/Germany.
After school, I apprenticed as a model-maker for industrial
castings, went to sea, worked as a gardener and was a public
servant at the office for German Telecomunications for eight
years.
From 1989 on, I apprenticed to become a gilder and worked
for an art and picture-frame company until 2000. Besides making
handcrafted picture frames, I also did restaurations of all
kind, from sculptures and furniture to paintings of all classes.
During
my freetime, I built a 36 feet gaff-schooner, that part-time
was (and still is) used as my home and art studio.
At the end of 2000, I moved to North Germany, where my partner
lives. For two years, I worked as a glassfibre worker and
wooden boatbuilder for different companies.
In 2003, I decided to give my art work a chance and started
painting full-time, falling deeper and deeper into the subject
since then and I hope, I never have to stop.
Being
born in a small, dry South-German village, I very early discovered
that some saltwater must be running through my veins.
My desire to be near the sea was irresistible.
The view to distant horizons, the motion of waves and the
changing light in an endless sky were the essentials I would
have needed to stay alive happyly.
But my dreams were soaked up by the dusty fields and dark
forrests that surrounded me. I started to become desperade.
Some
day however, I had a deep look at a bare white painting canvas
and hardly was able to walk away from it. There they were,
the adventures behind the horizons of my deserted reality:
the sea became a roaring scene of blinding coloures and from
that day on, my freedom was the smell of turpentine- I had
become an artist.
Today, living near the North Sea-coast, the subject of my
work has moved away from the traditional seascapes of my youth
to more sudden insights: it is the thin line between sea and
land, the short moment filling the gap from ebb- to flood
tide, the little step between dream and reality, that let
me open the next page of my live:a bare sheet of canvas, ready
to be filled with dreams, fears, happiness and unseen reality.
Finally, when I see a little smile rushing over the onlookers
faces- I know, I did it right.