“My journey begins on an old and dusty attic. A little boy unveiled a passage to another world and prepared his backpack. The moment is there – the moment of gathering courage and doing the first step.
I wanted to paint a picture about the nature of journeys. I wanted to show, that you always have to leave something behind if you want to reach for a distant goal. The boy’s belongings are on the left side, as well as his cat and the place he calls home, which shines a warm light from below the attic trapdoor. On the right side I arranged things that symbolize the journey. There you find the globe, the telescope, the ship, the bust of the great Homer and the skeleton which stands for the last journey. My goal was to create a tension between the two worlds, so the perspective lines are arranged to build a subtle drag into the glowing painting.
I also wanted to paint a picture about us artists. We constantly struggle to open doors to other worlds with our artwork and by creating foreign landscapes and fantastic creatures we fuel the imaginations of our spectators. Our paintings literally become portals into the realm of fantasy and that’s why in my painting the zig zag path formed by the road in the painting and the carpets on the attic floor ultimately leads to the viewer – to invite him to venture on a journey of his very own.” – Daniel Lieske
