| Property |
Details |
| Work |
The Visitor I |
| Series |
Smear board |
| Year |
2026 |
| Technique |
Oil on canvas |
| Format |
80 × 120 cm |
| Unique piece |
Original painting |
| Shipping |
Free of charge, within 3 working days |
| Location |
Atelier Hellbusch, Wiesbaden |
When a sign becomes an attitude
The Visitor I starts from a simple pictogram. We encounter such signs every day. They are clear, functional, and seemingly self-evident. What interested me, however, was less the figure itself than the idea that might stand behind it.
The Visitor stands for the encounter with the Other. For the willingness to listen, to endure differences, and to meet people with respect. Not as a moral demand, but as the basis of living well together.
A figure for our time
Many of today’s challenges no longer affect just individual countries or groups. They are global, complex, and can only be solved together. At the same time, the ability to tolerate differing opinions and treat one another with respect seems increasingly under pressure.
The Visitor I arose from this observation. The figure is a reminder that collaboration begins where people perceive one another at all. Respect does not mean agreement. Respect means granting the other person a place.
Light in the darkness
The figure appears out of a dark pictorial space. Above it, a bright circle opens up, reminiscent of a moon, a light source or a space of thought. The figure appears neither heroic nor dominant. It emerges quietly.
It is precisely this that gives it its presence. The Visitor demands nothing. He does not come to lecture or convince. He is simply there. In a time of constant loudness, this quiet presence itself becomes a statement.
Contemporary figurative painting in oil
Like all works in the series, The Visitor I was also created in oil. Visible layers of paint, overlaps, and spontaneous interventions remain part of the finished work. The painting does not describe the figure precisely, but lets it emerge and disappear again.
Between figuration and abstraction, the painting develops an openness that allows for different readings. From a simple sign a figure emerges, and from a figure an idea.
Smear Board – Familiar signs reconsidered
The Schmiertafel series deals with generally familiar pictorial signs such as flowers, smileys, trees or figures. They are simple forms that everyone recognizes and whose meaning seems fixed.
In these paintings, the form remains while its execution becomes increasingly uncertain. Color no longer follows the expected paths, decisions become visible, corrections leave new traces. From something familiar, a state emerges between order and dissolution.
The works are about the fragility of simple certainties. They show how even stable signs can lose their self-evidence and how small shifts can open up a new, more open pictorial space.
Original painting by Mark Hellbusch
The Visitor I is a one-of-a-kind original from my studio in Wiesbaden near Frankfurt. Like all works in the series, the painting emerges in an open process between symbol, color, and experimental painting.
Discover more works
The following visual worlds offer insights into different work phases, themes and artistic questions.
Smear board,
large paintings and
black paintings
About the artist
I have been a freelance painter since 1997 and have explored a wide range of themes in painting. While I worked predominantly in expressive painting up to 2007, my focus today is primarily on experimental art. My personal background and many further groups of works can be found in the “About the artist” section.
Contact & Studio
0176-21916227
markhellbusch@web.de
Studio in Wiesbaden – viewings by appointment.
Direct purchase and shipping also available.
