Unerträglicher Lärm in absoluter Stille

Felix Dolah is an artist based in Mainz, Germany who works in diluted charcoal, creating ghostly images that play with simple figures and negative space. The artist’s works embrace sharp contrast and are devoid of color.

Accattone

My first impression of Dolah’s works is that they’re slightly creepy – the elongated limbs and slightly off-kilter silhouettes of these maybe-human figures place them firmly in the uncanny valley. There’s something playful about Dolah’s works, though. Some of them are distinctly reminiscent, at least in spirit, of gothic illustrator Edward Gorey.

The idea of mixing charcoal with water is quite interesting – normally I think of charcoal as a drawing material, but Dolah, diluting it, turns it into something like paint or watercolor, allowing for a different texture when it’s applied to the paper. This same effect allows the artist to create his figures’ oddly elongated legs. Dragging charcoal lines down three-quarters of a page serves to guide the viewer’s eye and strengthen Dolah’s use of negative space.

Platzregen