Dieter Nusbaum – “Rosette II”, 2025

Painting, drawing and silkscreen on canvas, 95 × 95 cm

At first glance, Rosette II recalls the ornamental radiance of a Gothic tracery window. Yet Dieter Nusbaum translates this historical motif into a contemporary, multilayered visual language. The intricately milled wooden rosette—precisely cut using CNC technology—sits like a sculptural relief in front of the painted canvas. This creates a spatial depth that turns the wood into a kind of window—one that offers both insight and outlook. The physical materiality of the superimposed layer opens a view onto what lies beneath: a play of transparency and transcendence. Behind this wooden structure unfolds a vibrant universe of color, line, and form. On the canvas, Nusbaum combines painting, drawing, and the finest silkscreen techniques into a visually dense collage of floral elements, butterflies, leaves, and abstracted figures. His imagery oscillates between figuration and abstraction, between dream and reality. The ornamental wooden structure frames and orders this pulsating diversity—while simultaneously allowing it to shimmer through like an inner light.

Technically and conceptually, Nusbaum unites precision and emotion, craftsmanship and experimentation.

The CNC-milled rosette represents the calculated intervention of the artist; the underlying painting embodies the spontaneous, intuitive act of creation. This interplay between construction and intuition, between manual skill and inspiration, is characteristic of Nusbaum’s practice. The superimposition of both layers generates a fascinating tension between surface and depth, distance and intimacy. In Rosette II, the window—once a symbol of divine illumination—becomes an image of inner experience. Here, light seems not to come from outside, but to emerge from within the work itself: from the interplay of layers, colors, and forms. Nusbaum opens a space of contemplation that resonates both aesthetically and spiritually Rosette II is thus far more than a decorative object: it is an invitation to see, to marvel, and to reflect on the relationship between matter and spirit, construction and emotion a contemporary image of transcendence.