Westfälischen Nachrichten of 3.04.2015:
Invitation to colourful table scenes
Münster artist Regine Schmidt-Morsbach fits out two cruise liners with her paintings
Münster: Has she ever been on a cruise? (…) „Well – that’s not really my scene“. She is a passionate cyclist, and has to „clock-up the mileage“. Rather difficult on a luxury liner. Two years ago Regine Schmidt-Morsbach received the email which started the ball rolling. A gallery in Bielefeld specialising in Art-Consulting, sent an email asking whether she was interested in doing the artwork for a restaurant. She hesitated, suspecting some kind of joke. But the idea stuck in her mind. There were of course her „table paintings“, which brought together figures, gestures and exchange of glances in interesting and surprising ways, creating group portraits- „actually ideal for a restaurant atmosphere“. (…) So she sent a few photographs of her paintings back to the gallery’s email address.
After that, nothing happened for a long time. Maybe it was a joke after all. Then quite suddenly there was a reply in her mailbox: the gallery, which was acting as intermediary, wrote that the customers were apparently impressed, so she would be included in the official list of applicants. Weeks later a new notification: she was now on the shortlist. There was still no mention of the ominous restaurant concerned – not a word.
In January 2014 the bomb exploded. Regine Schmidt-Morsbach was given the contract to provide the artwork for the restaurants on two cruise liners belonging to the Aida Group, which were to be launched in 2015 and 2016 in Nagasaki in Japan.(…) Then work started in earnest. There were 12 initial designs to be made for the acrylic paintings and presented for approval to the Aida management in Rostock. Regine Schmidt-Morsbach set to work immediately, first developing the designs in the format 30 by 40 cms, in water-colour, in order „to preserve the vibrancy and lightness of the scenes“. The next step for Schmidt-Morsbach is to transfer the subjects, i.e. people enjoying being together around a table, into large-scale compositions in acrylics on canvas.
„My aim is to retain the typical water-colour qualities using a very different painting medium“ the artist explained. A year has passed since then and at this point she is working on the last of the 12 paintings in her studio on the Sternstrasse. In February a haulage company surveyed, packed and shipped the first 6 paintings to Nagasaki. As we already mentioned, the second series is almost completed. The twelfth painting is standing half-finished on her easel as Schmidt-Morsbach is telling us this amazing story.
„The original drafts will be converted into acrylics in structural sub-divisions and iridescent colour blocks“. Her figures, which are often rather lavish, gather round a table, which forms the basis of each composition. In one case a chameleon joins a group of distinguished-looking gentlemen, in another it is very obvious that the characters are under the influence of alcohol – as confirmed in the title of one of her works, „Let’s make Life worth Living“.
„I am really enjoying my work. It fascinates me that, despite having clear draft versions to work from, some new and surprising compositions start appearing on the canvas!“ the artist explains. She is now hurrying to complete the project by the end of the month. An exhibition in Switzerland is already looming on the horizon. Does she find it easy knowing her work will be sailing around on the world’s oceans? Regine Schmidt-Morsbach hesitates : „If someone were to invite me, I’d love to see for myself where my paintings have ended up.“ And if she were invited on a cruise, „then I would love to accompany a group of elderly ladies from the USA – for study purposes“. Let’s wait and see what the future may hold.