VOLUPTUOUS TOWNS cityscapes

Jan Astner – VOLUPTUOUS TOWNS – city landscapes

Jan Astner paints cityscapes. Each city is different because a city is not only about urban planning and architecture. Therefore each city has unique people, different ways of life, different customs. We all know it: cities have their scents, their color palette, mysterious nooks and crannies, manicured lawns and mountains of rubbish on the sidewalks, neighborhoods of prosperity and poverty. Firstly, it is us, their creators and residents who make them as they are, unique in their own, different, fascinating way. Secondly: It is people who create them, their beauty and ugliness. Thirdly: It is the inhabitants who create the cityscapes.

Jan Astner’s cityscapes are painted using the imprint method, without the use of a brush. Stamped with all kinds of tools and planes. Referring to cubism, macro pointillism – very rich and multi-layered. The structure of an image can be studied many times, and each time we discover something new. This richness results from the variety of the painting technique used and emphasizes the sensuality of the paintings.

Jan Astner cityscapes

Jan Astner looks at cities in a very private way. The painter shows in his „Voluptuous towns” – the uniqueness of cityscapes. He’s watching them. Each painting has a specific, corresponding color, from pastel, delicate to aggressive, imposing clashes of colors. The “Voluptuous Towns” series is an artist’s travel diary, a catalog of unique cityscapes. Each painting refers to a different city visited by the painter. Each is a record of the feelings that accompanied the visit, discoveries and experiences. Jan claims that the most interesting part of traveling is discovering the sphere that cannot be seen, which can be experienced individually by looking at people, or actually watching them. It is a colorful, diverse world, always hiding something from visitors. Each city has its taboos, its hidden secrets – because each city has its own intimate life.

Bright street nets, building walls, walls and partitions, create the structure of the painting. Astner records what is happening beneath the surface, under the appearences and brings out what is hidden. The painter reveals the taboo, very suggestively expressing his observations in colors and forms. In his paintings, he gives us space for interpretation. We can turn on our fantasy, saturate our senses with passion, desire, but also with delightful views. Because every cityscape is different. Everyone has their own unique beauty. Just like portraits of people.