Olisch Lesi Rob
Oil and graphite on paper, 2021
Olisch Lesi Rob belongs to the tradition of recurring monochrome works in Nicola Barth’s oeuvre – a deliberately reduced color field that nevertheless pulses with inner movement. In warm, earthy reds and copper tones, the composition unfolds in a way that feels both corporeal and atmospheric. Dense layers of oil paint meet delicate, almost fleeting graphite lines, like invisible currents flowing through the form.
The work is part of a series of paper formats Barth regularly explores. Here, she uses the flexibility of paper to intensify the immediacy and spontaneity of her painting process. By focusing on an almost monochromatic spectrum, subtle layers emerge in which concentration and dissolution are in constant interplay.
The title Olisch Lesi Rob – as with all of Barth’s titles, an invented sound structure – functions less as a semantic statement and more as a frequency that opens up the perceptual space of the painting. The work invites the viewer to linger, allowing the inner rhythm behind the quiet, concentrated surface to reveal itself.