Johann Brandstetter
Illustration & Painting
www.johann-brandstetter.com
About the artist
Johann Brandstetter (*1959) is an award winning German Illustrator and Painter. He first completed an apprenticeship as a restorer and church painter before he turned to painting and illustration. With his meticulously detailed drawing and oldmasterly painting technique, he attracted the attention of various international book publishers. After repeated study trips to Asia, Africa and Latin America and a profound theoretical occupation in the natural sciences - especially biology - Brandstetter specialized increasingly and ultimately exclusively in nature topics, which he mainly creates using watercolors, pencil(s) acrylic and oil.
"To appreciate my work, you do not require any level of prior knowledge. I seek to make things more tangible, not to shroud them in mystery.
If someone looks at my work and finds their senses awakened and as a result, in their own garden looks at the insect life they encounter with a newfound benevolence, then I have achieved what I set out to do.
I also see no conflict between a high level of aesthetic appreciation and a provocative critical statement. Add to that my pronounced need for precision in my treatment of a given subject area. I study my subjects very intensively and people sense this seriousness and respect for my subjects.
It’s like a counterforce to the restlessness of our time; almost a kind of ‘slow art’."
Johann Brandstetter
Nature Art
"...fascinating
tableaus, meticulously
detailed drawings in the style of Alexander von Humboldt’s flora and fauna of the entire world. With and through his art Brandstetter demands that ecological systems be re-examined as well as the role that humans play therein..."
Schafhof Freising, 2019
"It felt like a homecoming, like a renewed vow, like having the whole forest as a witness, and at the same time, being witnesses for it. Life, vouching for life. Reciprocity..."
Andreas Weber,
Nature Philosopher, 2018
"The work of Johann Brandstetter is characterized by outstanding technical mastery on the one hand and a high ethical-natural-philosophical or eco-political discursive claim on the other hand.
His works move in the field of tension between objectified Representation of nature and subjective, intimate observation. In the field of illustration, Brandstetter's work has found its way into science books in particular and was recognized in different professional contexts.
Brandstetter has been cooperating with natural history museums for some time and is presenting his work there as an independent artistic work. Last but not least, he builds bridges between cultural areas that are largely perceived separately from one another to this day." Annette Scholl, art historian
