It is that uncertain quality which takes on a precise shape. A shape that announces itself obscenely and wishes to be grasped tactilely. Anke Röhrscheid (born 1965) produced watercolors in dark tones that truly provoke their oral perception. Perception by the tongue, with your eyes closed, causing your inner eye to wander. The inner eye sees and feels at once, follows the score written by the artist. The visual shifts into the domain of bodily perception. We could almost speak of a voyeuristic element. But as with the Song of the Sirens, the images drag your down into the abyss. The abyss is fulfillment. You repeatedly resurface in order to be devoured. A meditative obsession to which you abandon yourself. Shapes change before your inner eye. They embrace you, irritate you. They could become dangerous, but they know all about the game of seduction. A seduction that does not let up, which is constantly regenerated. If you emerge from the abyss, then the path into the uncertain resembles an addiction. Anke Röhrscheid defines seduction as the paintings' wish to be seen and loved.
All the images want to be loved sooner or later (irrespective of how they present themselves). They become icons or hetaera. The icons keep you at bay. They serve pure contemplation. The hetaera create and shape bodily awareness. They penetrate into the very pores. Since they seduce and are beautiful, they also want to repeatedly be seen. - Anke Röhrscheid's pictures are hetaera. They embody sensuality, a sensuality that is soft, concealed, intricate, opens, and watches.
What is strange is how as time coagulates the seductive potential of her images gives way to icons. It is the experienced intensity which speaks to us. It does not let us out of sight. A gaze that you will not forget.
Jean-Christophe Ammann
Januar 2006